Andromeda Prophecies
by x-Mysti-x
Summary: The new era of peace for the senshi of earth is broken when a new Senshi with a new possibly apocalyptic mission arrives: Sailor Charoite. With the Starlights back to help with the battle, will Usagi and Seiya remain "friends forever"? SxU YxMxR TxAxM
1. Prologue

_**Prologue - For the Future of the Andromeda Gemstones, Sailor Charoite Appears!**_

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Hey all, Dreamweaver here. I've finished the first five chapters and after a long time (Sorry about the wait, I've been hounded by writers block) here is the new, hopefully improved edition of Andromeda Prophecies. The first few chapters probably won't seem that different but the later ones i.e. chapter 5 onwards should be. Hope you enjoy them.**

_**Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me. This piece of fiction is purely for the amusement of the author and/or reader, and has not been created with the intent to make a profit. Me no own, you no sue!**_

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"..." - Character Talking.

_'...'_ - Character Thinking.

_Italics _- Flashbacks.

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Amid the vast murkiness of space, the Milky Way is but one galaxy amid thousands. However, this story does not travel far from the place we call home. Only 2.5 million light years away, in fact. We begin in the bedroom of a prince. This prince belonged to a foreign planet not quite so different from our own. Most of the plant life was yellow, white or orange, the sky was a deep indigo, and countless more stars lit the sky at night than you can see from the atmosphere of earth.

While keeping quite the 'low tech' look, the people of the planet relied on the magic energy of the gemstone core at the very centre of their planet to keep them alive. The planet was Upsilon, capital of the Andromeda Galaxy, sister galaxy to the Milky Way.

Andromeda, while abundant in every known type of precious rock and metal, (and likely the types still undiscovered) did not have much iron or oil readily available and electricity was a thing unheard of outside of combat spells and scientific experiments.

As such, the galaxy got much of its revenue from selling gemstones and the like to other planets and galaxies, or traded them in return for the things they were lacking.

The planets had been in alliance for the past few centuries, although the history books told of times of civil war long past. Beta and Delta were the two agriculture and technology planets, Beta the home of all manners of scientific and magical testing, and Delta completely covered by farming and livestock. Demeter, the fourth, was more like in colour to Earth than the rest of the planets, and its population was mostly made up of children. This was the place where the children came to be schooled, and where the Sailor Senshi came to train before entering the service of the king and queen.

Curiously, although there were four planets only three of these had "active" Senshi - Delta, Demeter and Upsilon. The senshi of Beta stayed within the confines of her own planet, to the point of her being nicknamed a hermit. No-one from the other planets had seen her for at least five or six years, and very few people on her own planet knew her real identity.

This was just another thing to add to the list of things that irked Charoite about the state of her galaxy. Although her people were peaceful, they were growing complacent - if the senshi were killed, the planets would be left completely unprotected. Weapons and wars just weren't the concern of the normal people anymore, or even the royalty. There was hardly anyone alive that knew how to use a sword, excepting the very scant number of civil war veterans that still survived - and they were too old now anyway. It didn't help that the galaxy itself had not been attacked in at least three years.

The last people not native to Andromeda to cross its borders were the Sailor Animamates. The memory of her only defeat made Charoite shudder. It had not been pleasant. She should be dead right now.

Another thing that bothered her.

_The senshi of Andromeda had been, for lack of a better word, antsy, for three days now. Five days ago they lost all contact with the fourth planet, Beta. The senshi of that planet, Chryso, was not answering their calls. She usually did, even if they never physically saw her. Short of travelling to the planet themselves there seemed to be nothing they could do to get in contact again._

_Their suspicion was proved well founded when the palace was attacked. The armed guard on the outside walls was fighting off thousands of strange monsters - and the monsters won. Within an hour, despite formidable efforts on their part, the lightly injured and worn out senshi and the royal family were forced to lock themselves inside the throne room._

_The princess, only seven years old, was shaking with fear as she hid behind the throne, out of sight of the double doors which served as the only entrance. The little girl was as aware as the rest of them that they were likely the last people alive in the entire galaxy, and that no outside help would reach them in time if it ever came, which was doubtful. While the monsters were simple minded - they only attacked what they saw, and had no direct, collective mission - they were simply roving around attacking anything that moved, the sheer number of them was what had caused the three senshi and the royalty to barricade themselves in. There was a passage to the second kitchens, also closed off from the rest of the palace, so they were not going to go hungry until the large stocks of food left in there ran out - if this was all the danger there was, they would survive for the next few months and could possibly escape during that time. To where, none of them knew._

_Unluckily for them, the monsters outside were not even their chief concern. In a flicker of light, a black box appeared directly at the back of the room, two figures stepping out. One was pale, decked out in a rather revealing light blue costume, the other darker, wearing bronze coloured clothing very similar to her partner's. Both women had a gold, jewelled bracelet on both wrists. _

"_Nice to meet you. I am Sailor Aluminium Siren; this is my co-worker, Sailor Lead Crow."_

_Charoite raised an eyebrow. They did indeed give off the aura of sailor soldiers, but it seemed... tainted, somehow. Stolen. Whoever these women were, they were not allies. She shot a wary glance at the other two senshi behind her, who were wearing similar looks. She took a step towards them, trying not to let a concerned look flick back to the throne where the princess was hiding, it might give her away. Not to mention her primary concern was not the young princess, but her older brother, Charon. He was the one she was specifically assigned to protect, no matter what her feelings towards him were._

_The princess was not old enough to need guardians. She would not leave the protection of the palace for years yet. Though at the moment it looked like she might not live that long anyway. "I am Sailor Charoite; these are my co-workers Sailor Chalcedon and Sailor Citris. What business do you have here? You can see we are overrun." Charoite replied, her tone businesslike and distinctly cold._

_Aluminium Siren grinned as the young princess suddenly broke away from her hiding place and ran for her mother._

"_Galaxia-sama wants your Star Seeds, so we've come to take them."_

_Within seconds, although the time seemed to run in slow motion for Charoite, Aluminium Siren raised the bracelets and gold light shot out of them, connecting with the princess. She was lifted slightly with a scream of pain in a pillar of the gold light and then collapsed, a small diamond-shaped thing appearing above her, revolving in midair. After a second or two, the silver shine was covered over with black and the unconscious body of the princess faded away._

_The king and queen, who had both just got to their feet in horror, were the next to go. The gold lights knocked them back down against their thrones, and after their little diamonds went black, they disappeared too._

_Charoite had never particularly liked the king and queen, both of them were too sure in their own security and power for their own good. And now it had cost them. But she was still alive, and so was Charon. So she still had a mission to complete. The dead could be mourned later, if she did not join them. She didn't think she would - she made a point not failing in anything she did, and as a result had never lost a battle. But this time there was precious little other than duty to survive for. Duty to her prince, as he was the only one alive._

_Besides that, she wanted revenge. The princess had been a close friend more than anything else. She looked up to Charoite in times like these and she'd failed in protecting her from danger. Failed as a friend._

_As the two Animamates raised their bracelets again, she felt the other two senshi push past her without thinking and move in front of their prince. They fell to the gold light as well, the gold flower petals pulling back to reveal that they were the ones possessing true Star Seeds. Charoite choked on the air in her throat disgustedly as she watched the attackers simply pluck them out of the air and take them, not paying the slightest bit of attention to their dying owners. Her gut tightened as she realised that they were next._

_And although she moved in front of her prince as well, she gasped in shock as he slumped forward onto her - the light had swerved around her to hit him, her efforts were nothing. She didn't even get time to say goodbye, and although she tried to be strong her inner sadness was betrayed by the tears running down her face. As he disappeared, the world seemed strangely empty. She wouldn't be able to argue with him anymore, and he wouldn't be there to get her out of scrapes caused by her tendency to not hold back her thoughts even when in "polite" company. She couldn't protect him and be there for him if he was dead. Was this love?_

_They were saying something, taunting her no doubt, but she couldn't hear them over the white noise fuzzing up her mind. It was rage. Before she knew what she was doing, Aluminium Siren was on the floor, Charoite on top of her with her hands around her throat until her face was as blue as her clothing. The fake senshi's perfect face had more than a few red marks where her fist hand collided with it and perhaps a black eye. A kick to her ribcage sent her rolling off the Animamate she was bent on choking to death a split second before, and the last thing she remembered of that time was unbelievable pain in her chest, the gold light, and then darkness. She might have been screaming then, she couldn't hear herself. What did it matter? She had failed._

"Charoite... _I'm bored_..." the spoilt prince whined, jogging her out of her memories. Prince Charon was seventeen, athletically built, the ideal heir of any king. He was also bratty, he sucked at losing and his guardians were never good enough for him. As the heir to the throne of the entire galaxy he was afforded three of the best warriors available, legendary Sailor Senshi. Of course, he didn't mind as much when he found out all three were female and eye-candy to boot. Only one of said guardians was with him now, the protector of his planet, Upsilon.

One year his junior at sixteen, she stood at 5ft 6inches, two inches shorter than him, her wavy, unruly chocolate hair often obscuring her face despite the fact she kept it held back - anyone who met her who knew a girl by the name of Minako Aino may have commented on the similar hairstyle to two girls shared. She was Charoite.

"_Shinjite..."_

_That was what the voice that woke her from her unconsciousness said. If she had eyes, she would have blinked. Instead, she merely remained curled up, safe and warm in the darkness, or was it light? Silver light bathed her and suddenly, she remembered. She was Charoite, she had a mission. Her prince! Her mission lay with him. Her love lay with him. She had to find her way back. She joined the other flowing stars around her and shot up into the sky, towards the burning light of a sun. It felt like being released after years of imprisonment._

_Eventually, she found her body again. Blinking, she sat up in a dusty throne room. Around her, Citris, Chalcedon and the others were also sitting up and wondering what happened. It would be a short while before the memories of their deaths came back to them all. _

_But the strange thing was that, while the connection to all the other stolen Star Seeds had faded, she could still remember watching from her place of captivity as the senshi of Sailor Moon's team and the Starlights with their princess worked to free them, dying or suffering in the battle while she, like the others she could vaguely sense around her in the darkness, were powerless to help. Galaxia herself, the real one, was as powerless as they were up until those final moments._

"_Sailor Charoite-sama, the queen requests your presence in the throne room."_

The sound of a maid's voice dragged Charoite to her senses again and she nodded. The maid then dutifully turned and left the prince's chambers without another word. However, Charoite couldn't move. Her prince was currently snuggled in her lap with his eyes closed. His long, dark green hair was left free at the moment, and was also splayed across her knees, its silky softness playing across the exposed skin of her legs. Sometimes she could have sworn her prince was as vain as any preppy female his age. She knew he was not asleep, though peaceful breathing and closed eyes would tell a different story to any onlooker. Likely he was just trying to get her in trouble for the fun of it. After all, there were many girls willing to fight for the chance to take her place if she got sacked. Cocky jerk.

She sighed. She had been reborn, for what purpose? Just because she was there? Was this how she was going to spend her life, locked to one person?

"Prince, I really have to go. Your mother will have my head if I'm late." she quipped, edging away from the prince and frowning when he refused to let his snuggle bunny run off, sitting himself up and pulling her into his lap instead, holding her tightly as if she were a favourite toy he was protecting from someone who wanted to steal it away. Telling herself she wasn't blushing even though the red staining her face was obvious, she tipped her head away so he wouldn't see and wriggled out of the embrace with difficulty before bidding the prince a goodbye, giggling at the pout on his face before she headed off down the corridor.

She paused outside the throne room, checking her reflection in a mirror. This was an official meeting, she had to look good. Her skirt and collar were gold and purple. Her actual fuku did not come with a bow; instead blue designs were inlaid into the top of it. Black lace covered the milky pale skin of her midsection from where the bra-top ended to where the skirt began, her white gloves fingerless except for a band of elastic around her middle finger to keep them in place, the ends blue to match her boots. The bow on the back of the skirt and her choker where green to match her eyes. In short, she was Sailor Charoite, strongest of the Andromeda Gemstone Senshi (or she liked to think she was the strongest), and she took her job very seriously. At the moment, however, her job was to go and see what it was the queen wished to discuss with her. She really hoped it wasn't anything boring. Little did she know, in a few hours time she would be leaving her beloved prince and familiar world behind for planet Earth after hearing tell of a dreadful prophecy...


	2. 1: The Dreadful Prophecy!

_**Chapter 1 - The Dreadful Prophecy! Charoite Leaves For Earth.**_

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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me. This piece of fiction is purely for the amusement of the author and/or reader, and has not been created with the intent to make a profit. Me no own, you no sue!**_

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Maeyela Seiko sighed as she strode down a marble staircase towards the transport building. She was dressed 'civilian' clothes, a lavender gypsy top and black leggings, boots coming up to her knees over them, notifying to the people she passed that she was off duty. She was known as the protector of her planet Upsilon, second to only the royal family themselves, by every man, woman and child that dwelt upon it. Every girl wanted to be just like _her_ when they grew up, every mischief making boy was told _she_ was the person who would discipline them when they did something bad. She was an icon.

But she was leaving her galaxy for another planet, rural and quiet, or so she thought. She had heard, as had everyone, that the nine Sailor Senshi protecting that planet were the best of the best, Sailor Moon being their leader. She was, in Earth terms, the 'idol' of Sailor Charoite. It was, as such, bitterly ironic that the two would be set at odds on the mission she was leaving her planet behind to do. And she still couldn't believe she had been trusted with something like this. The queen had presented some very disturbing news to her when she reached the throne room.

_There was a projection of the Andromeda revolving in front of the throne, a clump of stars amid the blackness of space. The other senshi, Citris and Chalcedon were already there. A video link showed that Chryso was listening from Beta._

"_Ah, Charoite. So nice of you to join us." the queen said, shaking her head slightly. Charoite let the unspoken jibe slide. The queen knew exactly where she'd been and what had made her "late" (even though nothing had started), and it seemed she disapproved._

"_Finally." Citris muttered, grinning as she shot her leader a look. The two of them were somewhat rivals for the attentions of Charon - although before, Charoite hadn't cared, she did now. And it was slowly driving a wedge through their friendship when it looked like Citris was going to be the one who lost out._

"_This is what will happen to us in three billion earth years." Queen Anara said, indicating a cluster of stars and planets that she recognised to be the Andromeda galaxy. It was curving through space at a fairly leisurely pace. The three of them watched in horror as the galaxy began to curve into the path of its sister galaxy, the Milky Way. With a flash of light and vibrations that jilted about the holographic image the queen was showing them, the two galaxies collided and both were utterly destroyed, not even recognisable among the few scraps of stars and rock that were left. The princess of Upsilon was a widely renowned Seer, and this was one of her visions. Up till now, no vision she had seen had not happened. And at only ten years old, that was good going for a girl her age. There was also the factor to consider that as the calendar was different between Earth and Upsilon, three billion years was not that far away. Charoite would still be around to see it happen, even._

_Not that she would allow this to happen on her watch, if there was anything that could be done._

"_We have to stop this!" Citris cried in desperation, covering her face as she shook with fear at the future she had just seen. Chalcedon couldn't even look at the image anymore. _

"_Charoite, I'm sending you to Earth to discuss the removal of their people to Andromeda and the destruction of the Milky Way." Queen Anara instructed, removing the horrific projection of their future with a wave of her arm and heading out of the throne room._

"_Anara-sama, what about the Sailor Senshi of Earth?" Citris asked. She knew as much as Charoite did that one senshi standing against nine was a suicide mission, or as good as._

"_If they won't co-operate, kill them. I won't allow them to stand in the way of Andromeda's safety."_

_With that, the Queen was gone. Charoite sighed. If the queen wanted her dead this badly why didn't she just sign an execution warrant? It would surely be less painful. No... Anara wanted the marriage threat to her throne to die in the line of duty so it didn't look suspicious to anyone else. It seemed like everyone apart from Charon knew about her feelings lately._

_But that paled in comparison to the expressions her companions were giving her. Pity. And she hated it. They shouldn't be pitying her! She'd be fine._

"_Maeyela.. we'll come too. You can't do this on your own." Citris said._

_Emitting annoyed sigh, Charoite turned away. She didn't need their help; she could do this on her own._

"_If you leave with me, who will protect this galaxy? Chryso can't do it on her own. I'll handle this myself." she fired back, stalking off and ignoring Citris shouting after her and Chalcedon's eyes rolling and annoyed sigh._

Maeyela glared at the gravel path beneath her feet. Part of her didn't want to risk their lives and part of her was furious at them for doubting her. She was their leader, why did they think she couldn't cope with something small like this?! Did they have so little faith in her capabilities?

She sighed, waving her bracelet past a panel on the door in front of her to allow herself access to the room beyond. She was about to step over the threshold of the door when a voice made her turn around.

"Maeyela! Wait up!"

'That sounds like...'

Maeyela's heart leapt into her throat as she turned to see Prince Charon running to catch her up before she disappeared behind the door. To say the sight shocked the Charoite Senshi was the mother of all understatements. Charon never ran outside of a battle. And he had never, in all four years of her service, called her by her true name. Ever.

Protocol demanding, she stepped back from the door and sank down to one knee before the prince as he approached, her head bowed as she waited for him to speak. She could hear him pause to get his breath back and after a moment he launched into his sentence.

"What sort of joke is this? I thought you were coming back within an hour, but now Citris tells me you're running away to Earth!" he demanded, a frown marring his features as he looked down at Maeyela's kneeling form, a sight he didn't want to lose despite his attitude towards her. Ever since Galaxia's minions attacked he'd felt differently than he should towards his guardian, in denial because he knew it was wrong to care for her more than he did before and he didn't think there was even a chance she felt the same way.

Maeyela resisted the urge to laugh. Really, Citris was going to have to do better than that. Why would the most faithful of them run away? She really was getting desperate with the attempts to get attention. Still, no harm done. Apparently it had had the opposite effect.

The incident had never been mentioned in conversation between them since, but after the Anima-mate attack things had been.. _different_ between them. It was still as much fun to tease his head senshi, get her in trouble and generally tick her off, but then feelings he wasn't so familiar with started to work their way in. And now, she was leaving, so it seemed.

He had run into Sailor Citris on the way to find his mother and ask what was taking Charoite so long, and the blonde guardian had merely tossed her hair as she calmly informed the prince that Charoite was running away to Earth and carried on walking, adding she had something to do. He had set off at a run after her, and here he was now.

"Queen Anara has requested that I take a message to Earth, Charon-sama. I will return in a short time." Maeyela's voice sounded, jolting the prince from his thoughts as she stood straight again and began to walk away from him, assuming he didn't have anything further to add since he was so silent. She didn't notice the internal struggle that was suddenly quelled.

The sight of her walking away made something snap within the prince, probably his self-restraint. He walked forward after her and took a loose hold of her wrist, giving it a slight tug. She was caught mid-step and turned around, her back banging against the wall behind her as she hit it, taken unawares by his sudden movement.

"Charon, wha--"

Her question was caught in her throat along with her rapidly beating heart as the prince closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. While simple at first, the kiss ended up getting deeper.

What they didn't see was the two figures who reeled in shock as they came upon the sight of Maeyela in the arms of the prince. Sailor Citris and Sailor Chalcedon had come to see Maeyela off now that they had both done the task the queen had set them before Maeyela arrived at their meeting. Chalcedon went bright red and averted her eyes, giggling slightly, while Citris fumed. _What was she doing kissing the prince when she already knew about her feelings for him?!_

After a moment, she turned away and sighed, knowing it was highly likely the prince had kissed Maeyela first as the girl herself pointed out on a regular basis neither of them should be chasing him because they were senshi. It was their job to protect him, not fall in love with him when it could endanger him by being used against them. She'd just pretend she never saw it and carry on, she told herself.

Maeyela was forced to pull back as she felt herself run short on air, trying to stop herself panting slightly as she felt herself stall, desperately trying to think of something to say. Nothing sprang to mind as she realised what she had just done. Kissing the prince, although he was yet to be betrothed to anyone else, could result in her death or demotion at least because of the difference in their status.

Sliding along the wall away from the prince without saying a word, shocked look in her eyes, Maeyela disappeared through the door that was still open, which slid shut again as she backed through it, denying the prince access as he tried to follow her. What the hell was she going to do now? He'd just complicated things quite a bit.

The transport building was calibrated for one access code only - hers. Nobody else could get in or out, so at least she'd be able to get away and maybe earth would give her time to clear her head and re-evaluate the situation she had with Charon before she saw him again.

Fighting back the emotions threatening to rear up and choke her, she lifted her right hand into the air, a smile crossing over her face as she shouted out the phrase that would change her into Sailor Charoite, ignoring as best she could the sounds of pounding on the door and Prince Charon's voice calling for her.

"_Charoite Gemstone Power, Make-Up!"_

The charoites on her bracelet began to shimmer as she brought her left wrist up and over to cross her right, the action causing the bracelet to flash and change into a set of bracers also set with charoites. With a crackle the bracer on her right arm covered her in a wave of dark energy, forming her fuku, skirt and boots. Holding her arms out, she watched as white gloves issued forth from the bracers, ending in three blue bands at her elbows and lowering both her arms, she crossed them in front of her face, pulling them back in one swift movement as her choker and tiara materialised, signifying the end of her transformation.

Turning back, she looked at the closed door and smiled sadly.

"Until we meet again, my prince." she said to herself, turning back and striding onto pattern of her planetary symbol on the floor, a C with a top-right-to-bottom-left diagonal line through it. She focused her power and began to give off purple and gold light, the same symbol as the one on the floor beneath her shining out from her forehead as she held her arms tight to her sides. Within a few seconds, she began to float, and all at once, she was gone, leaving the planet with a gold and purple trail of light which lit up the whole sky as she exited the planet's atmosphere travelled to Earth faster than the speed of light, hoping against hope that when she got there the planet wouldn't be too hard to cope with, and most of all that the people there did not try to refuse to accept her and her mission. She really did not want to have to kill anyone on this trip, especially since she was the first person in recorded history from the Andromeda galaxy to visit the Milky Way. After all, first impressions are everything these days.


	3. 2: Is The New Girl Evil?

_**Chapter Two: Is The New Girl Evil? Usagi Is Confused.**_

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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me. This piece of fiction is purely for the amusement of the author and/or reader, and has not been created with the intent to make a profit. Me no own, you no sue!**_

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Sailor Charoite couldn't remember how long she had been travelling for now. She knew the distance between her planet and the one she was headed for, but she hadn't bothered to keep tabs on how long the journey took her. She was brought from her wanderings as she flew past Pluto, skimming over Saturn as she weaved between the other planets, nearly mistaking Mars for Earth. The research she had done before leaving told her that a densely populated city where she could start off on her mission was called 'Tokyo', so she circled the globe looking for Japan and went straight through the atmosphere without a second thought when she found it, grinning to herself as the Earth rushed up to greet her. She knew the landing would possibly knock her out, and would certainly leave her with one hell of a headache in the morning, as it seemed to be night time on Earth right now, the sight of a lit-up Tokyo informing her of this seconds before she hit the ground.

*****

Tsukino Usagi, infamous for being lazy when it came to staying in bed, found herself at a loss. For once, she couldn't sleep at all. She had already tried eating, having a hot chocolate, and talking to her friends via her communicator. _Nothing_ was working.

"Three hundred and twelve sheep. Three hundred and thirteen sheep. Three hundred and fourteen sheep...oh I give up..."

_Not even counting sheep._

With a sigh, an 18 year old Usagi turned over in her bed, sitting up and creating a gap between the curtains to peep out of. She looked up at the night sky, watching the countless stars up there twinkle cheerily at her, as if telling her to stay happy. Really she felt as if they were mocking her solitude.

"Baka Usagi..." She muttered to herself, feeling her eyes sting as seeing all the stars made her think of the three Sailor Starlights. One in particular had been haunting her mind for months, even after leaving. It had been two and a half years since the fight with Galaxia. Mamoru had gone to America again to actually take the course he left for the first time. Their relationship was slowly falling apart. She'd stopped wearing the ring he gave her shortly after he left the second time. She had almost asked him not to leave her again, but something told her he'd refuse and go anyway. What was the point in disturbing things further? It was important to him, she shouldn't hold him back.

The other senshi were faring far better than her. Minako, the absence of the Three Lights leaving a gap in the market, as it were, had become a huge success almost overnight. Ami, Makoto, Minako and now Rei had chosen courses at the same college as her when they all left school, Haruka & Michiru had even got married. She'd moved out, and had her own apartment and a proper part time job now. So everything should be fine... _shouldn't it?_

Giving in, Usagi let the tears come, keeping her voice down so as not to wake the black cat sleeping at the end of her bed as she cried on and off for the rest of the night, as she had been doing almost every night since he left with the others for Kinmoku, believing she only wished to remain friends as she had intended.

'_Seiya..'_

*****

'_Odango..'_

Seiya couldn't stop thinking about her, no matter what he tried. He had been sitting awake all night almost every night since he had left Earth thinking of his blonde haired angel and missing her terribly. He knew that he shouldn't, as she was destined for someone else.

_Destined._

Destiny used to be something that made no sense to Seiya whatsoever. It was just one of those words used for something ambiguous that was meant to happen, or something like that. Now it made his blood run cold every time he heard it, a constant reminder of his one sided love. He had slowly grown to hate that word, even when it was not used in the same sentence as her name. He could admit that maybe Mamoru was not as bad as he thought at first, having found out that he had not been returning Usagi's letters and calls because he was dead, not because he was avoiding her, but that didn't stop _him_ loving her too.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Caught off guard, Seiya turned and looked up to see Princess Kakyuu standing beside him, looking down on her Starlight with a slight smile. She didn't have to ask.. Kakyuu, Maker and Healer already knew what ate away at his mind constantly.

"I want to see her.." Seiya muttered, sighing as his gaze slid back to the Earth. It was far, far off in the sky, but he could always make it out, never losing sight of the blue planet where his heart had been left behind.

Kakyuu held back the urge to sigh. This was how Seiya had been since they returned home. Indeed, it was how all three of her Starlights had been. With her power and their help, Kinmoku had been restored and it's people reborn. The same could not be said for the three of them, however.

For one start, when off duty they began to stay in their male form more often until it was just as normal to see them as Seiya, Taiki and Yaten as it was to see them as Star Fighter, Star Maker and Star Healer. Although their devotion to her never changed, she could tell their minds were always somewhere else, and she suspected it was Earth. As the two years went on, each became more reclusive in their own way, until eventually it was rare to see any of them. And when they were seen it was either a formality, on patrol or simply in passing as they headed off to do something. They never smiled anymore, or when they did it never reached their eyes. They weren't happy.

A thick streak of purple, gold fringed light carved a path across the starry Kinmoku skyline, catching both Seiya and Kakyuu's attention for varying reasons. The distinct aura of a Sailor Senshi seemed to come from the slowly fading trail in waves, but neither the princess nor the Starlight could directly identify it - Yaten was better at that sort of thing. It seemed strangely foreign, though, as if the Senshi wasn't a Milky Way Senshi. Just as you could tell that the Anima-mates had been fakes by the tainted aura they gave out.

Thoughts questioning the identity of the senshi to whom the light belonged were almost instantly shoved aside when Seiya realised that if the person didn't change their course they were heading directly to Earth. Could this be a bad thing?

Judging by the troubled look on Princess Kakyuu's face, it _was_ a bad thing. Did that mean Usagi was going to run into trouble? Weren't the wars over for the moment?

"Serenity-hime and Earth could be in danger now. It has been a long time since anyone heard from the senshi of Andromeda." Kakyuu mused aloud. "Certainly they've never crossed the border between their world and ours before now. I wonder what this means..."

Seeming to remember she wasn't alone, the princess turned to Seiya, a warm smile on her face. "Seiya, I need to see you, Yaten and Taiki in my office. It looks like it's time to visit Earth again."

*****

"I'm going now."

Usagi didn't bother to hide the rings around her eyes as she locked her apartment door. Her normally neat hair was a mess, and her face was still a little tearstained. She was only three doors down from where Mamoru normally lived, the empty apartment of his taunting her. She had originally been living in it with him but when he left the emptiness haunted her too much. She had move out again, renting her own apartment on the same corridor. Now she wished she hadn't even done that, and that she had moved further away, as she had to walk past that door every time she left or went to enter the building.

Luna watched the door close and sighed. She might be a cat but she could tell that Mamoru's absence was telling on Usagi a lot. She sighed.

"Usagi-chan.."

*****

"We have a new student." the teacher informed the class. Usagi sighed as she sat at the back of the class on the far right. College was fun but her mind was elsewhere as she wondered what her Mamo-chan was doing, trying to keep it off Seiya and with the man she was _supposed_ to love. Ami was sat in front of her, listening attentively like she always did, while Rei sat on her left, seeming tense for some unknown reason. Minako would usually have been sat in front of Rei, but today her seat was vacant. A slight smile graced Usagi's face as she realised the blonde idol was probably running late as usual, imagining her friend running at full speed to get to class, out of breath and red in the face. Makoto sat relaxing on Rei's left, also listening to the teacher, though admittedly not as attentively as Ami was.

The door slid open, and a girl with wavy brown hair walked in. Her green eyes immediately trained on Usagi, an 'I know something you don't know' look on her face as she smiled at the distracted odango-atama.

"This is Maeyela Seiko. It's her first time in Japan so be nice to her." the teacher said, indicating the seat in front of Makoto, as it was the only one free besides Minako's. The girl smiled at the teacher and turned away to walk to her seat, her expression darkening as her face was hidden from the teacher's view, eyes still fixed on Usagi, who didn't seem to notice. Rei, Makoto and Ami did notice, however, they eyes hardening slightly as they watched Maeyela take her seat in front of Makoto. Anyone smiling like that at Usagi like that couldn't mean good, and as of right this minute Rei was itching to get back to the temple so she could consult her fire on the new student. Now she knew why she'd had a bad feeling this morning.

"Sorry I'm late!"

With a shriek, an exhausted Aino Minako ran through the door and hurried to her place. Everyone except Usagi laughed, the other three Inner's expressions turning sympathetic when they noticed this. Maeyela just glared at the latecomer, who, upon recognising her, glared back. The others watched with brows raised as there seemed to be some bad blood between the two. The cause of it, however, would not be found until one lunchtime a few days later. Their conversations had to keep being cut short because just as they got to talking about her, Maeyela would walk past or sit within earshot to have her own lunch.

"So what's up with the newcomer?" Makoto asked, frowning a little as she leant her back against the tree she was resting on.

"I saw her walking on her own.." Minako said, pausing as she relived the moment she had met Maeyela. "And she.. she feels like.. something about her is just _different_. Can't you feel it too?"

Rei nodded. "She feels like a senshi." the Senshi of Mars said simply. Minako breathed a sigh of relief as she took comfort in the fact that if no one else believed her, at least Rei did. And no one was going to question Rei's intuition.

"We'll talk to her later." Usagi said, staring at the floor where she sat and trying not to fall asleep. The lack of sleep last night was catching up to her at last.

"Usagi-chan.." Ami said sadly, all four of them turning to look at her. Compared to how she used to be, vibrant and happy, there was almost nothing left now. The shine in her sky blue eyes was almost dead, and she was never very cheerful about anything anymore. Except maybe ice-cream.

The Inners didn't know the reason, presuming it to be Mamoru leaving, although this was far from the truth. They didn't even consider the fact that Usagi might be confused and missing Seiya as well as Mamoru; in fact, the Starlights had not crossed their minds since they left other than when looking back on fond memories of their times together. Ami would not allow herself to miss Taiki too much because it might have slowed her studies, and Minako just didn't have time anymore between her college work and being an idol.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

Usagi nodded, although she was clearly anything _but_ okay.

"I'm _fine_, Ami-chan."

Maeyela sat perched in a nearby tree, leaning back against the trunk as she watched Usagi's group. The girl's hairstyle was bugging her, it looked familiar but she couldn't place it. She was also frustrated with how things were turning out. She'd been on Earth almost a week now and hadn't been able to do anything. The days had never gone so slow, and her mind was plagued with doubts. Was it a good idea to reject the offer of help she'd been given from the other senshi? Although she, Citris and Chalcedon were officially a team, they didn't act like one most of the time. Chalcedon was too reserved compared to the other two and their "childish squabbling" annoyed her on an almost daily basis. Citris just annoyed her for the most part. She'd seen Usagi and Rei start arguments that eventually degenerated into sticking-out-tongue-wars and seen an instant similarity to herself and the Citrine senshi. Yes.. that was what they were like.

Also, what about Charon? She'd all but outright run away from him. In hindsight, she supposed that was the fight or flight reflex kicking in. She must have chosen flight that time as she slipped away from him into the transport building. She hoped he didn't do something stupid like get impatient and come after her. That could be dangerous.. and Charon was not a patient person.

He was also not entirely royal. At least, his bloodline wasn't. She'd found out that although the young princess was the king and queen's biological daughter, Charon had been adopted. From where, there wasn't a clear record. He'd still been named heir to the throne, however, as the eldest. A fact which, if the princess felt sour for being cheated out of the throne, she never admitted to caring about.

She sighed, leaving her thoughts alone for the moment. Although Usagi seemed to like her, at least from a distance, she and the blonde were like chalk and cheese. Usagi was cheerful, bouncy and to some degree was willing to trust and open her heart to anyone that happened to walk past. She cared about everything.

Caring. Maeyela had long since given up that quality. The only thing she cared about was her mission, a trait which, although it made for a successful Senshi, lead to a blackened heart and cold soul. In the last three years since the beginning of her time as a Sailor Senshi, she had tortured, kidnapped, murdered, been used as leverage in blackmailing the queen's subjects to keep them in check... Upsilon was a violent place beneath the facade of the palace and the quaint medieval buildings. It was kill or be killed, the weak constantly under the control of the strong. It was what lead her to participate in the senshi tournament for the position of Charoite in the first place. She did not want to be one of the weak, and she knew she didn't belong among her family. Usagi's family loved her. She knew this because she followed the girl to her parent's house once. Usagi had the love of countless people, and many friends. Maeyela had no friends at all. She didn't want friends, they had no place in her life and led to undue emotional stress when the arguments started, and they always did - at least, that's what she told herself. Told herself over and over until she started to believe it.

Trust was a dangerous thing.

But these thoughts were water under the bridge, so to speak. She'd had them before, no doubt she'd have them again. She needed to get moving. To say there were meant to be a total of nine Sailor Senshi on Earth, she hadn't seen hair nor hide of one yet. Nothing in the news, although the senshi seemed to be a big part of the culture - there were shops everywhere selling Sailor Moon merchandise, entire websites devoted to theories about who the Sailor Senshi really were, what their _real _purpose was. Was this all a government conspiracy? Were they vigilantes like Batman in the comics? Entire forums full of incidents where people had seen or been helped by the senshi, including details on any and all battles that had happened in public. With a bit more searching, Maeyela was able to figure out for herself bits and pieces of information about all the enemies Sailor Moon and her team had fought off in the past, from the Dark Kingdom to Sailor Galaxia.

This information, small and fragmented though it was, had allowed her to profile each of the senshi. Their fighting styles, their powers, and most importantly, their strengths and weaknesses. This put her at an advantage. They were not even aware of her presence on this planet yet. She'd been searching for them as a civilian, not yet making herself known as a Sailor Senshi. And, frustrated as the search proved fruitless, she began to think maybe she should attract their attention with something that seemed to work judging by their combat history - wanton violence.

There was only one thing that worried her. Along with the nine Solar Senshi, the most recent sighting reports, from the Galaxia times, noted the appearance of three more mysterious soldiers. Next to nothing was known about them, except that they wore a very different fuku to the Solar Senshi and introduced themselves as the "three sacred shooting stars", the Sailor Starlights. They were reported to be more destructive and selective in their manner of fighting and apparently more powerful than the Solar Senshi, judging by the in some cases explosive effect their magical attacks left. In the time after the destruction of Tokyo by Galaxia, the Starlights seemed to just fall off the radar. They were never seen again. So where were they? She'd heard of them before, vaguely, and only once. They certainly didn't originate on Earth. Perhaps they had left it again? Not knowing where they were posed a threat to her plans. She couldn't be completely secure in her planning if she didn't know where these Starlights were and what threat they posed to her. '_If any.'_

Dropping silently off the branch, she randomly selected a target amid the crowd of students and hid behind the tree to transform into Sailor Charoite out of sight. Her first step towards victory began now. She wouldn't fail.

Rei frowned as she looked up at the trees and sky. Her two companion crows, Phobos and Deimos, were cawing harshly as they fluttered above the college buildings in wide arcs. This was not a good omen. The other girls were chattering about something or other, she wasn't really listening. Actually.. she felt rather drowsy.

Beside her, Minako started in shock as Rei suddenly sat bolt upright five minutes later, in perfect time with a loud bird-shriek from the nearby crows that quickly flew away. The shrine maiden was slightly paler than normal and flushed, her breathing heavy.

"Rei? What's the matter?"

Rei, all eyes now on her, blinked once or twice and shook her head slightly from side to side as if to clear it.

"I had a vision."

_A threatening rumble from the darkening clouds made Rei turn her face to the sky as she sat herself up. The other girls were gone, and Rei felt a harsh wind pick up, the chill stinging across her exposed legs - she looked down to find herself in her Mars fuku._

_The buildings on the Tokyo skyline, including Tokyo Tower, suddenly shook violently as if from an earthquake she couldn't feel. Buildings began to fall, people were running and screaming. Unholy purple flames sprang up everywhere, until she was forced to spring up and run. She found that once she started, she couldn't stop herself running, as if she were being pulled by a rope around her waist towards an unknown place. There was so much confusion and death. Purple light now covered the scene, starting from a hilltop not far from her sight, she realised she was running towards it. The sky above was veiled in the pitch black smoke from the fires, only three solitary stars shining through._

_A lone female figure, tall, with long dark chocolate hair stood atop the hill, a powerful purple and gold aura spilling from her. She was unfamiliar, and her face was in shadow as she saw the destruction and laughed at it. Purple lights were spilling from her hands, the source of the violet flames and the confusion that rendered all the people stupid. They were running into each other, some casting themselves into the flames and others sinking to the floor as their minds were crushed under the weight of this figure's power._

_She wore a uniform that looked very similar to Mars' own, except the white bodysuit stopped prematurely to form a bra-top, the space between the top and skirt all black lace on milky pale skin. She had no bow on the front, only two blue spike patterns going inward. Her skirt, purple fading to gold, was longer than that of the Solar Senshi's uniform, stopping just above her knees. Blue boots with a green strip along the top, a green choker and a purple collar with a single thick gold stripe finished the look. Her gloves were the length of Eternal Sailor Moon's, two thick pewter bracers with Charoite stones at her wrists._

_The purple fire was directed at her and the heat crackled around her for a second before she jolted back to the living world and Minako's concerned face._

"A vision?" Minako pondered, clearly wondering what she'd been shown and whether it was significant.

"It's important. And not good news." Rei replied, frowning.

She was unable to share details, however, as a scream cut them off, followed by the sound of someone collapsing and scarily familiar laughter. Rei had heard it just now, that sound of mirth.. if a sound so cold could be called mirth.

Without a word, the five of them got up and ran towards the sound.

What they found made Usagi gasp. Her old friend Naru Osaka was lying abandoned on the floor where she had fainted. The sight seemed to kick Usagi into action as she ran over and dropped to her knees beside her friend, taking her hand.

"Naru-chan! What's wrong?!" she asked frantically, met by a murmur from Naru who turned her head to the other side slightly, facing Usagi, who was surprised to see her friend's face as pale as death. "Naru-chan!"

There was a pulse, but it was weak. Someone had drained almost all of her energy. Ami relayed this conclusion to the other four and they nodded. Suddenly a giggle sounded from a shadowed figure, which jumped out of view and ran off towards the town centre as the five of them looked in the direction the giggle had come from. With one collective movement, Usagi reached for her compact and the other four their henshin sticks.

"_Mars Crystal Power, Make-Up!"_

"_Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!"_

"_Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-Up!"_

"_Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!"_

"_Moon Eternal, Make-Up!"_

Sailor Charoite grinned as she sat atop the clock in the middle of Juuban town centre. The girl she had attacked was sure to draw the attention of the senshi. Until they followed her, she had nothing to do. But it wouldn't give the right impression if they found her sitting around on the job.

More to the point, she was attracting the attention of the civilians below her. At first, people thought she was a jumper. Then they realised she was a Sailor Senshi and really got interested, shouting up to her and waving. What was she doing here, they asked, and who was she? But she simply smiled and ignored them. She had no business with the underlings, and they would not recognise her if they had seen her in human form before.

Just one of the less obvious ways the magic of the senshi worked. They could run faster, jump higher, even fly if trained to do so; and receive a lot more physical damage than the average human being without injury. Also, their identities were protected. It wasn't that you didn't see them, their inherent magic prevented their civilian likenesses being recognised - in other words, the onlookers brain saw their face, but could not match it correctly even if said onlooker knew their civilian forms personally. It was handy. If Sailor Moon and her friends saw her, they wouldn't match her up and she wouldn't be discovered. Unfortunately it meant the same for her. She wouldn't recognise Sailor Moon if she passed her in the street, although Usagi's hairstyle was still bugging her for some inane reason. The whispering of an idea was in her head about that but it had yet to be more than a vague whispering, so for the moment she discarded it.

Lifting her palm, she angled her hand towards the crowd and blew what looked like a cloud of very fine lavender sand at them that glittered and sparkled in the light, making the crowd "ooh" and "aah" like it was some firework display. The awe was quickly replaced with panic when anyone who inhaled the sand dropped to the ground unconscious, all but a little of their energy stolen to amplify Charoite's power. It was like a cup of fresh coffee after a ten hour night flight to her, getting rid of the jetlag her travel to Earth had caused. _Now_ she was ready to battle.

"Hold it right there!"

A voice sounded out from atop a building over to her left. Suddenly, the people still conscious shouted and cheered as Charoite looked up to see Eternal Sailor Moon, and Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars lined up across a nearby roof.

"Hm?"

"You can't go stealing energy from innocent people. And actually, I was having a nice day until you ruined it!" Sailor Moon continued. Mars sweat-dropped, turning on her and starting to rant.

"Just get on with it! She doesn't care how your day has been!_"_

At this, Sailor Moon paused her speech and turned to reply. "Well I'm going to tell her anyway! What are you, my mother?" Leaving Rei to mutter a few incomprehensible words and only being stopped from clonking her on the head when Venus laid a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to stay on task.

"Anyway.. where was I? Oh yes.." Sailor Moon continued, looking more confident as she took her usual pose. "Agent of Love and Justice, pretty Sailor Soldier, Sailor Moon!"

"Likewise, Sailor Mercury!" Mercury added, the others following her example.

"Sailor Mars!"

"Sailor Jupiter!"

"Sailor Venus!"

"_The Sailor Team!_ In the name of the moon, we will punish you!"

For a moment, Charoite felt her heart flutter. Her idol, the senshi of legend, Sailor Moon, was right in front of her. She'd long hoped their paths might cross, that she could learn something from the golden haired champion of justice... she just didn't anticipate that she'd meet her as an opponent on the battlefield. Sailor Moon never gave up, she felt love for everything, even the enemies that took everything away from her. This was the thing Charoite admired her for the most. How could you love an enemy? Was it the sheer desperation of having nothing else to cling to? What allowed her to do that? She had to find out, because _surely_ the knowledge would make her stronger.

But this all paled in comparison to the fact that she'd wasted a week here because of _them_. And it made her angry. She didn't like hanging around and wasting time. It wasn't proper or efficient, and often led to failing in your objectives when you got too distracted to do the thing you set out to do. She shouldn't even be on Earth, she reminded herself. It was their fault she was here in the first place.

"Well, I'd better introduce myself also, hadn't I." she replied coolly as she got to her feet, taking her signature pose, her right hand on her hip and her left hand hanging down.

"Stepping forth to protect the far future, my charge is the galaxy Andromeda. Sailor Charoite is here!"

It was Charoite's turn to sweat-drop as Eternal Sailor Moon just looked at her, confused, and leant over towards Mercury. "Ne, Mercury, where's Andromeda?" she asked behind her hand.

"The sister galaxy of this one, 2.5 million light years away. It's going to collide with us eventually, but according to scientists it won't do us any harm." Mercury replied.

"Your science is wrong." Charoite called, glaring at the bluenette disdainfully. "If the two galaxies collide, both are going to be destroyed! None of us can stop it... you have to come with me to Andromeda if you want to live.. otherwise.." she paused, pointing to the people who had fainted below them.

"We're not leaving this planet and neither is anyone else!" Mars shouted back, fast losing her patience with the newcomer, her planetary symbol appearing in her hand and forming into a ball of fire as she started her attack.

"_Mars! Flame..._ _Sniper!"_

Charoite jumped to the side as the flaming attack was launched at her, missing her by inches, and was forced to land on another building, reminding herself not to look down. She was very.. well, _uncomfortable _with heights.

"Don't you understand?! I'm trying to save you!" Charoite spat, furious that Mars had rebuked her. "I don't want you or your people to be harmed, and I won't unless you force my hand." her face softened, centering on Eternal Sailor Moon in particular. "I don't want to hurt you."

For a moment, there seemed to be a look of understanding in Moon's eyes, which allowed Charoite a small glimmer of the hope that had been rapidly fading since the start of this confrontation. Maybe they could accept her mission? Maybe they would agree to a peaceful move? Maybe she wouldn't have to kill them?

"_Venus Love-Me_ _Chain!_"

Charoite let out a small cry of surprise as an orange whipcord of heart shapes lashed across the space toward her. Clearly the other senshi weren't going to listen, they only saw her as a threat to be dispatched. It was Venus's turn to be shocked as the Gemstone Senshi caught hold of the chain in one hand and looked down at it. As she gazed unconcernedly at the thing in her hand it started to stain deep purple. The stain worked its way back to the other end of the chain in Venus's hand. It began to twitch, and then writhed. Charoite let go and watched as it wrapped around its owner, constricting her movement and choking her until she was able to recall it (amid Mars and Jupiter's attempts at prying it off).

To the other side of Sailor Moon, Mercury had her visor and little blue supercomputer out, her fingers clacking across its keys as she tried to pinpoint a weakness. Charoite noticed this and allowed herself a small tut. "You underestimate me."

She wouldn't let the brains of the senshi finish her thinking, it was her time to fight.

This thought in mind, Charoite raised her right hand above her head, a large ball of crackling dark purple energy forming in it.

"We've got to all attack at once!" Mercury shouted, still clacking the keys of her supercomputer with more urgency now than before as she continued to work at finding Charoite's weak spot.

It turned out that Charoite was faster.

"_Psi Corruption!"_

Smirking, she released the energy ball at the five Solar Senshi. Before it hit, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus jumped in front of Sailor Moon on instinct to shield her from the blast they thought was coming. Instead, the dark energy seemed to dissolve into a mist which washed over them. Charoite laughed as they straightened up and turned to face Sailor Moon, all four sets of eyes misted over as they advanced on her instead, causing her to step back uncertainly, edging across the roof to the side of the building where there was no escape except to jump to her death.

"What did you do to them?! Mercury? Mars? Jupiter? Venus?! Snap out of it!"

"_All attack at once..." _Mercury's voice sounded far away, as if she wasn't really sure of what she was saying, or what she was doing, her movements almost in slow motion and eyes clouded as the symbol of Mercury appeared in her hand.

"_Mercury! Aqua... Rhapsody!"_

"_Mars! Flame... Sniper!"_

"_Jupiter! Oak... Evolution!"_

"_Venus! Love-and-Beauty...Shock!"_

Sailor Moon faltered as the four attacks were turned on her, shielding her face as she waited to be hit. She couldn't fight back, they were her best friends!

"_Silent Wall!"_

The four attacks dissipated with a crackle against an invisible shield. At the same time, the four Inners shook themselves all at once as if they were coming to their senses from something. Charoite paused, frowning at the hitch in her plan.

"What the.."

She turned to find the four Outer Solar Senshi perched on another building, who launched into their introduction without waiting for her to ask who they were.

"My guardian deity is a planet far up in the sky. The soldier of the sky, Sailor Uranus!" Uranus announced, stood back to back with her partner Neptune, who spoke almost immediately afterward. It was enough to make you think they could read each other's mind. _Almost_.

"My guardian deity is a planet with the sea of sand. The soldier of embrace, Sailor Neptune!" Neptune added, smiling slightly at the prospect of being a Sailor Senshi again. As bad as their battles sometimes were, without the fighting there was little else for her to focus on.

"My guardian deity is a planet floating in time and space. The soldier of revolution, Sailor Pluto!" the oldest of the four said. Charoite couldn't believe her eyes as they fell on the last. She looked too young to be who she said she was.

"My guardian deity is the planet of silence. The soldier of death and rebirth, Sailor Saturn!"

In one movement, the four of them jumped down, landing on the same building as the Inners and Sailor Moon.

"Led by a new crisis, the soldiers of the outer solar system have arrived!"

Charoite frowned. This was a hitch. The Outer Senshi were not supposed to turn up yet, she couldn't deal with them right now or she'd deviate from her plan. Another thing that risked failure, which she would not tolerate.

"Well damn."

It looked like she would have to improvise from here. Maybe if she could crack their teamwork, the Outer senshi would fall. And luckily for her, her powers were suited to doing exactly that.

"_Psi Corruption!"_

Not taken unawares at the immediate attack, the four Outers easily dodged it, unaware she was aiming for the roofing they were stood on. The ball of dark energy again dissipated as it hit their roof, the energy from it washing over the four senshi. Charoite grinned. Another direct hit. Now she could stand back and watch, waiting for the Outer Senshi to either turn on Sailor Moon and the other four as well, or on each other. Both possibilities were fine with her.

Pluto and Saturn both stopped for a few seconds, though Uranus and Neptune remained standing firm after the dark mist caused by her attack faded away.

Suddenly, Pluto launched a 'Dead Scream' at Saturn, who jumped back, blocking the attack with her Glaive and taking the fight right back to the dark haired Time guardian, much to the dismay of the rest of the Solar Senshi. Venus and Mars jumped on Pluto, trying to hold her back while Jupiter tried to keep Saturn from levelling the rest of the planet with one swing of her Glaive to get at Pluto.

"How can she do something like this?!" Uranus questioned angrily as she kept her eyes fixed on Charoite's giggling form. "She's not even at Super Sailor level, we are... _and she's still wiping the floor with us!"_

"Uranus! Calm down before you do something you're regret." Neptune said calmly, pulling out her mirror and nodding to Uranus who soon followed suit, the Space Sword talisman in her hands, both launching into attacks without another word which Charoite barely had time to evade, ducking and weaving to avoid her assailants.

"That's not good." Charoite muttered as she turned on her heel and ran further back as Uranus and Neptune advanced on her, one hand on a wound on her shoulder from Uranus' sword. "Why didn't the confusion work on you two as well?!"

Uranus smirked. "If Galaxia's bracelets couldn't control us, do you think that will?" she asked, getting ready to attack again.

"I know how you died!" Charoite snapped, disturbed by flashbacks of her own death again at the mention of Galaxia. She could almost feel the old pain closing in on her chest. "Aluminium Siren and Lead Crow wiped out my whole planet. _You think I don't know what Galaxia and her minions did?"_ Her anger was building as she looked at her opponents with a hatred that surprised even them. Though they could tell it was not directed at them, but at the two women who had undoubtedly killed her in the past.

A loud clashing sound caught their attention. Pluto and Saturn were at each other's throats again after shaking off the other girls trying to stop them. She knew the effects of her attack would continue until one of them landed a hit. Although... she _was_ rather worried about Saturn. There was no point coming here to save the senshi if one of their own was going to kill them all first.

"Onegai.. yamete." Sailor Moon's voice was quiet and weak as she watched her best friends risking their lives for her and fighting amongst themselves, she couldn't stand it. Tears threatened to break past the restraints of her eyes as she closed them, and this time the word was a scream.

"_YAMETE!"_

A gold light so bright it made Charoite cry out as she was forced to cover her eyes spilled from the crescent symbol on Sailor Moon's head. Pluto and Saturn stopped, seeming to realise what they were doing and then looking horrified with themselves as they realised they were the reason their princess was crying.

'_That light.. is familiarly warm..'_ Charoite thought, realising it had been the same light which returned her to life two and a half years ago.

Fighter, Healer and Maker were caught off guard as they saw a streak of gold light. They had just passed Venus, Healer's cheeks turning red at the sight of the planet as it reminded her of the blonde she'd be able to see again soon. Fighter, however, was instantly on red alert when she was able to make sense of the word she had heard Sailor Moon scream.

'_Stop? Stop what?! Is she in trouble?! Is she hurt?! Are we... too late?'_ Apparently similar thoughts were running through the other two Starlight's heads as the three of them moved still faster, homing in on the source of the gold light.

The light dwindled after a few seconds, all of the Solar Senshi's eyes on Eternal Sailor Moon. Charoite used the pause to shove Uranus and Neptune away from her roughly before they could stop her moving any further, leaping off the edge of the building and across the gap to land opposite Sailor Moon, violet semi-translucent mana short swords forming in her outstretched hands - a trick she owed to Charon.

While the other senshi were getting their bearings back she started running, fully intending to fight her way out of the loose ring they had formed around her. Sailor Moon was the most likely to bolt or be clumsy, according to her research, so she was the perfect target. Instead of staying where she was she'd likely just duck or move back out of the way, allowing her an easy escape.

"_Star Serious Laser!"_

Charoite let out a surprised "Gah!" and promptly fell on her face, landing in a heap at Sailor Moon's feet and growling as she struggled to stand up, charred and bruising after being caught by the attack.

"You better have a damn good reason for that, whoever you are!" she roared. That was her escape plan scuppered.

"Masaka.." Sailor Moon managed one word before a quiet melody seemed to fill the air and someone began to speak.

"Penetrating the darkness of night, the wind of freedom breaks through. We're the three sacred shooting stars!"

Charoite's brow raised as Sailor Moon's face lit up at the appearance of the leather-clad Sailor Starlights, Uranus & Neptune's expressions darkening as one as they observed the three speakers.

"Sailor Star Fighter!"

"Sailor Star Maker!"

"Sailor Star Healer!"

Charoite's attention went back to the Starlights their stares were fixed on her, both parties sizing each other up at the same time across the rooftops. Fighter was livid. _Anyone_ who tried to hurt Sailor Moon was going to have to deal with her. There were only two emotions running through her right now: concern and anger.

"Sailor Starlights, Stage on!"

Eternal Sailor Moon gasped as she saw the raven haired Starlight, all the anxious, worrying thoughts of battle stopping dead as the simple presence of the person she'd spent endless nights crying for hit her. Seiya was back, right there in front of her, almost like the Starlights had never left. Looking over, Fighter smirked in that cocky way she'd been missing for the last two years and winked.

"_Fighter!"_

She laughed and completely forgot about the threat of Charoite, running over towards the three of them. It felt so good to see her, Maker and Healer again, like a large chunk of her was back where it belonged and she didn't know it had been gone in the first place.

The others kept a watchful eye on Charoite as Fighter was knocked clean over by the blonde haired odango-atama, the pair of them laughing as they fell over in a heap, though two out of the four of them were distracted by the sight now presented to them. Four different hearts raced as they exchanged glances.. for entirely different reasons.

"_Maker.."_

As much as she hated to admit it to herself, Makoto had been hoping this day never came. Hoping she never had to hear the word leave Mercury's mouth. She suddenly felt awkward as she looked between Mercury and Maker. _'Or more appropriately, Ami and Taiki..'_ she thought sadly. She had never voiced the feelings she held within her heart, and she knew that doing so was a futile effort now. The knowledge shook her to the core as she watched the petite Senshi of water take faltering steps towards where Maker stood, looking unsure of herself. She looked away, not able to watch any longer as she felt her heart teetering on the verge of breaking, her hands balling into shaking fists as she bit back the tears.

"_Healer.." _

On the other side of Charoite, Rei struggled to keep her eyes on the Andromeda Senshi as she felt Venus leave her side in more way than one. Internally, she cried out for the part of her she felt was disappearing.

'_Minako-chan! Don't leave me!'_

The blonde Senshi of Love couldn't hear her thoughts, however, so it was all in vain. She could watch, but only just, out of the corner of her teared-over eyes as Venus pulled the silver haired Starlight into a hug, tears of joy slipping past the blonde's eyes when she discovered that this time, the Starlights were back for good. Tears of joy that weren't for her, though she felt like her own could spill any minute now. '_Minako-chan..'_

Charoite sighed. She hated to be the one to break up the emotional moment, but weren't they supposed to be 'punishing' her 'in the name of the moon' or whatever? Dusting herself off, she shook Mar's hand off her shoulder and cleared her throat loudly enough to catch the attention of the Starlights and the other Senshi who were ignoring her in favour of catching up, so happy to see each other they had plain forgotten what they were doing. Very unprofessional... but profitable for her.

"Psi Corrup--ah!" Before she could finish calling her attack, she felt Pluto's staff hit her arm hard, jarring it and cutting her off as she cried out in pain. Uranus and Neptune allowed themselves to relax a little as Saturn called out "Now, Sailor Moon!", the blonde nodding happily and getting to her feet, summoning her Eternal Tiare as she began her attack.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

Charoite was taken off guard as the Tiare let out a stream of gold light which engulfed her, feathers streaming around her as her wounds healed. Unfortunately for the Solar Senshi, Charoite was not just another Phage. She was nothing other than herself, so other than the wounds courtesy of Uranus and Neptune, there _was_ nothing to put back to normal. She looked over herself curiously as the light faded, feeling her strength renewed and her mind clearer than it had been in a good while. Her body was tingling all over.

"You... healed me?"

These words seemed to shock the Solar Senshi out of their ideas of winning. Charoite noticed the pause and at once took advantage of it, breaking through the ring to the edge of the building and jumping off it out of reach and out of sight. Before they realised she was escaping, she'd completely vanished.

*****

"So... are you three back for good?" Haruka asked, eyeing Seiya heatedly as they all sat in a booth in the Crown cafe. Setsuna had already excused herself to take Hotaru home, knowing there was likely to be an argument and it was best if the younger Senshi was not there to hear it.

"Damn right we are, so you better get used to it." Seiya shot back, meeting Haruka's gaze without flinching, not something many people were able to do. Animosity crackled through the air for a moment as the each attempted to stare down the other, Michiru sighing in the background. Ever since that time in her dressing room Haruka and Seiya didn't get on well... although she got the feeling they wouldn't have been best friends anyway.

There was a charged silence between the two before Usagi broke it, oblivious as usual. The rest of the girls were happy for the change, though. She hadn't looked this happy since they couldn't remember when. Haruka suspected what the cause was, but she wasn't letting on just yet.

"Want a dumpling?" she asked, holding one out each to Haruka and Seiya. The others sighed. Haruka seemed to be at a loss for words, incredulously accepting her proffered dumpling, her train of thought coming to a crashing halt at how utterly oblivious her princess could be sometimes. Or maybe she just gave that impression while cleverly creating a distraction.. you could never tell. Seiya blinked once or twice as the steaming dumpling was held in front of his face, looking from Usagi back to the dumpling and then laughing as he took it from her and began to munch.

"Anyway.. how would you guys like to do a concert with Michiru and me to launch your new singing careers?" Minako asked, trying to think of a way to break the animosity between the two Outers and the Starlights. Yaten suddenly choked on his drink, coughing and looked up at Minako.

"You mean you actually got famous while we were gone?" he asked, his incredulous look almost a mirror image of Haruka's earlier expression. _'The day Minako Aino really becomes a star is the day it snows in hell.'_ Yaten thought. He never really had her down as that type, thinking she just wanted to be an idol so she could use it as an excuse to get closer to them as the Three Lights back in the Galaxia days, although the day when she auditioned did make him look twice. It was also the start of something he wouldn't admit, even to himself.

"Indeed!" Minako said, giggling. "You boys were actually kind enough to leave me a place in the market to fill. I owe you!" she said, slapping Yaten on the back and getting milkshake all over him. Watching this, Rei sighed.

"Way to go Minako-chan. Subtle as a brick as ever.." she muttered, shaking her head. Sighing, the others nodded knowledgably.

"Sure, we'll join in." Seiya said as he swallowed the last of his dumpling, grinning. When Taiki didn't argue, Yaten groaned in frustration. A two out of three majority meant he'd have to do it anyway.

Minako squealed and jumped up and down in delight, shouting a thank you loud enough to rouse the dead. Or at least the half-dead, black coffee gulping people in the cafe. She only settled down when Makoto pointed out that unless they started organising they wouldn't be able to have a concert at all. Not to mention she was sure Usagi and the others wanted to welcome the Starlights back with a party of some sort.

*****

"_Charo-chan?"_

Maeyela looked up as she heard her communicator beep, giving off an image of Princess Andromeda. The girl looked young for her age, long teal hair standing out against her purple and gold robes. She wore the same innocent smile as always, though Maeyela got the sense there was something hidden behind it that she didn't know.

"Princess Andromeda! Is something wrong on Upsilon?" she asked, frowning as she thought of her almost-defeat today. Never mind Upsilon, something was wrong on _Earth._

"_Only my brother, Charo-chan. He's still depressed because you left him behind when you went to Earth."_ the princess replied with a cute giggle. Her encounter with the prince before she left Upsilon haunted Maeyela's mind. That kiss...

"Well at least he's still alive. Was there something you wanted to tell me?" Maeyela asked, cracking down to business as usual.

"_Yes, actually. If you have possession of the Golden Star Seed, the Solar Senshi may stop getting in the way."_

"The Golden Star Seed?" Maeyela echoed, frowning. "But... that would require taking it from a living person."

"_It shouldn't be too big a deal, you've murdered before._ _Do you wish to fail your mission, Charo-chan?"_ the princess said, a hint of a stern tone to her voice. She sounded so much like her mother at times like that.

"No.." Maeyela said, her gaze falling from the princess's face as she steeled herself. If it was the only way, so be it.

"_Good. You will find it inside a man named Mamoru Chiba, or Tuxedo Mask. Your bracers should be able to do the trick. With the Golden Star Seed in your hands, you are sure to succeed. Good luck, Charo-chan." _the princess said, terminating the communication without another word.

"Hai. I won't fail you, princess." Maeyela said, only the darkness of the room now present to hear her words. She already knew where this 'Mamoru Chiba' was now - she had overheard Usagi say he was studying in America while talking to her friends, so that was where she would be headed tomorrow morning.


	4. 3: Usagi's Despair!

_**Chapter Three: Usagi's Despair! Charoite Targets the Golden Star Seed.**_

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As usual: The concept and characters of Sailor Moon don't belong to me. Only the plot and Sailor Charoite are mine.**

**SakuraBlossom: Yeah, I support both the pairings in question in the Makoto/Ami/Taiki & Rei/Minako/Yaten triangles, so choosing the final pairings from them is tough for me. Glad to hear you like the story =3 All I can say is writers block is evil sometimes.**

**DavisJes: Yes, the Starlights are more anime style than manga. At first, during the re-write I was going to change the story so that the Starlights kept their female form on earth, but I had to keep them the same because it would have changed the plot. Hope you like the updated version x3**

**October MagiC: Me either! *sweatdrop* I got writers block really badly after I re-wrote the first chapter, then started working on Moon Priestess, which I'll be finishing soon seeing as the last chapter is half done right now. Here's the next chapter for you. ^^!**

* * *

Maeyela yawned as she sat up in bed, pushing the light blue coverlets back and rubbing her eyes. The alarm clock beside her began to ring, now un-necessarily, and she clicked it off, frowning at the loud noise. It was 4am

"Stupid time.. stupid guy living in America.. if the girls were here we could just teleport there." she muttered to herself as she pulled some clothes on. She was going to have to fly all the way there. But not exactly via plane - although she'd have to watch out for those. Locking her apartment door behind her, she set off down the corridor to the lifts.

"Why do I never get extra sleep in the mornings?" she complained to herself.

*****

Usagi sighed as she walked past Mamoru's empty apartment. She had taken care to look neater today as she knew Seiya would be joining her college, and she couldn't let him see her like she had been before. She didn't want him to think she had spent the last two years without him as an emotional wreck. Which was true, she hadn't. Mamoru only left a year ago, so she had spent the first year and a half after Galaxia happily. Chibi-Usa even came back to visit for a few months, telling how the Anima-mates and Galaxia had attacked the future first for her and had stolen her Star Seed as well before they came to the 20th Century to seek out the last remaining Star Seeds.

But she couldn't think about Galaxia anymore. The days of being Eternal Sailor Moon looked to be finished, and to be honest, she missed it. The appearance of Sailor Charoite yesterday worried her as she thought back on how the Andromeda Senshi had been able to make her own friends attack her and then each other. She had to agree with Haruka's earlier question. How could she do that when they were obviously stronger than her?

She was jogged out of her thoughts as she felt herself walk into someone coming the opposite way and fell to the floor, squeaking with surprise. A hand reached out and caught hers before she hit the ground, pulling her back up.

"Gomena--Seiya?" Usagi opened her eyes to find Seiya was the person that had grabbed her hand to stop her falling. He looked just as surprised as she did to find out who he had walked into. Usagi's heart began to pound when she realized that since neither of them had let go, Seiya's hand was still holding hers. Then, she let out another cry of surprise and dropped her hand, breaking the contact too suddenly and falling backwards again in her speed to get away, having a rather undignified landing on her backside on the concrete, her face going red when she heard Seiya laugh at her.

She was about to reply when she caught sight of her watch and realised it was 8:55 already and it would take another ten minutes at least to get to college. Hurrying to her feet, she screeched "LAAATTTTTTEEEEEE!" as she set off at a run.

Seiya watched her go, his laughter getting louder as he watched her blonde odango'd hair whip out of sight around a corner.

"Some things never change, Odango." he said to himself, only to look down at his own watch and realise that _he_ was going to be late as well, the sudden realisation causing him to run off after Usagi, calling for her to wait as he tried to catch her up.

'_Yep.. some things never change.'_ Rei thought as she saw Minako, Usagi and Seiya run to their seats at the last minute in quick succession making a pandemonium about being late just before their teacher walked in. Ami was busy swapping notes with Taiki so he could catch up on what they had been doing so far, Makoto keeping her gaze firmly out of the window for some reason. Rei herself was keeping herself from looking up at Minako as the blonde poked Yaten, who was sat in front of her, trying to get him to turn around so she could say good morning and start gossiping as always. Rei sighed. _'It used to be me she always said good morning to before..'_ she thought sadly as she gave up, allowing her eyes to trail over the back of Minako's head. Her gaze must have been more pointed than she thought, because Minako suddenly turned around.

"Are you okay, Rei-chan?" she asked concernedly, looking from Rei to Yaten who had also turned to see if anything was wrong with the raven haired shrine maiden.

"Oh yes, Minako-chan, I'm fine. Totally. Fine." Rei replied airily, glaring at Yaten and looking away._ It was going to be a long day.._

*****

Mamoru sighed as he straightened out and re-ordered the few pages of notes he had managed to take today. Being away from Usagi was harder than he first thought. Without her constant happy-go-lucky attitude, coupled with the fact that this was an entirely different country and time-zone, he couldn't concentrate much even with work readily available, and that wasn't like him. It was at times like this that he wondered how he'd lasted juggling his early life as Tuxedo Mask, studying, and everything else in life without Usagi around to keep him grounded as he was used to now.

Stretching, he slid the notes back into his bag and leant back on the bench he was sat on, looking out over the university campus and wondering if Usagi was really okay with him coming back here to study after what had happened the first time he left. Maybe he should have left it a few years until she had settled down again and got used to the idea that there shouldn't be any more danger. According to Setsuna's latest prediction, it was plain sailing all the way from now to Crystal Tokyo. Then again, that was a year ago...

"Excuse me, are you Chiba Mamoru?" he heard a female voice ask. It didn't register as familiar, but he knew it must be someone from Japan because they had addressed him family name first.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked, looking up. The girl in front of him looked tall for her apparent age, her dark brunette hair held back in a way that reminded him of Minako Aino. Clear green eyes observed him, appearing to be hiding something. That was not what startled him, however. The girl was wearing a Sailor Fuku.

"I'm Sailor Charoite, and I have to borrow something of yours." the girl said, smiling in a way that unsettled him. "There's no use denying you don't know what a Sailor Senshi is, I know you're actually the one named Tuxedo Mask." The girl continued. "And I also know you are the holder of the Golden Star Seed."

"And if you have the wrong person?" Mamoru replied coolly. "If I said I don't have a clue what you're talking about?" The girl chuckled, shaking her head.

"Like I said, there's no use trying to bluff me, Mamoru-san. If you don't give me what I want, I might have to take other courses of action to achieve my goals. And those courses will almost certainly involve the painful death of Eternal Sailor Moon and her companions."

She'd hit a nerve, and was definitely talking to the right person. That much was shown as Mamoru's fists tightened despite his obvious attempt to keep his emotion hidden, although he said nothing. Grinning, she spoke again.

"You won't help me? That's a shame." Taking a step forward, she walked around the bench at a leisurely pace and sat next to him, leaning over slightly, a playful lilt to her voice. "Ne ne... do you think she will squeal, when she dies?"

"Stop it." Mamoru muttered, turning his head away.

"Or will she crack when I take them all away from her, one by one? Until all that's left of her is a weeping mass of feathers and broken courage."

Rose petals swirled as Tuxedo Mask appeared, having stood away from the bench to get away from Charoite. On the inside he was still seething with rage, but from where he was he simply looked down at her. "You'll have to kill me first."

Smiling, Charoite stood up as well. "That's the general idea. I didn't think you were going to make this easy and sacrifice yourself." sighing, she shrugged. "Really, you should be thanking me. I'm here to save this planet, and you'll get your Star Seed back the moment I'm done with it."

"Sailor Moon is the one who protects this world. Don't you have your own place to protect?" Tuxedo Mask countered.

"Sailor Moon can't save you from this galaxy's collision with Andromeda, so I've been sent to help the people who wish to live." Charoite said, shaking her head when her opponent opened his mouth to interrupt her. "Don't bother trying to tell me the collision won't happen. Now, I need that Star Seed. The Star Seed in charge of the Earth."

_**The Star Seed in charge of the Earth...**_

_The jet plane left Tokyo airport for America without any delays, the sky clear and blue with white clouds barely impeding the sun at all. The day looked perfect. And it probably would have been too, had something not been about to go terribly wrong._

"_Usa-ko..."_

_Mamoru Chiba had been offered a place studying medicine at Harvard University, and since Usagi was alright with him leaving for a year or two, he had accepted. Now he was on a plane to America to get to his university, his mind on the blonde haired odango-atama he had left behind, probably crying her eyes out how he wasn't there to see her do it. The thought of paining her made him frown. It had been hard enough the last time he had deliberately caused her pain. But that was because of the nightmares he kept having which predicted her death. Not so anymore.. and yet he still left her._

_Neither Mamoru nor any of the other passengers saw the ball of golden light that hurtled towards the plane until it was too late, colliding with the plane sideways on. As the ball met the metal of the plane the whole thing lit up like a Christmas tree, and everyone inside was bathed with the golden light, except Mamoru, who it seemed not to have any effect upon. The sound of pained screams echoed throughout the plane as the light ripped into the passengers. After a pause, a flower with orange petals sprouted from each of their foreheads and unfurled to uncover a diamond with a glowing yellow light in the centre. Each diamond sparkled for a few seconds before blacking over, the human it had issued forth from breathing their last breath as the shines faded to a dark grey, the light inside going out. Laughter rang out, seeming to surround the plane as Mamoru picked himself up, already dressed as Tuxedo Mask as he leapt out onto the wing of the plane and looked around._

_With shock, he found that the plane was rested on a reflective floor, surrounded by darkness. Heavy, dark red light flickered overhead and he looked up. The lights looked similar to the Northern Lights he had read about, a phenomenon from the arctic. These lights did not shine in different colours though, remaining a dull red as they curved and twisted through the air._

"_What was that?!" he muttered to himself, looking around carefully. He knew the plane didn't end up here -wherever 'here' was- by accident. Something might be waiting to attack. And indeed something was._

_From the darkness, the laughter spread. The gold light still bathing the plane formed into one ball and floated above the wing on which Tuxedo Mask stood, a voice echoing from it._

"_I feel it! The shining energy of a Star Seed!"_

"_Who are you?" he demanded, having to shield his eyes from the searing glow of the gold light. With a shifting sound, the golden light disappeared, replaced by a woman in golden armour._

"_Ruler of the entire galaxy, Galaxia!" the woman pronounced in reply, looking down on him with cold red eyes full of malice._

"_Why are you doing this?" he asked, frowning as he remembered the gold light stealing the life out of every passenger of the plane. "What's the purpose of inflicting pain and suffering on innocent people?"_

_The woman grinned._

"_The entire galaxy belongs to me! I decide on how things are to be treated!" she announced._

"_The galaxy belongs to nobody!" he replied, watching the figure of Galaxia from his position on the wing of the plane as she landed on the top of it, smirking and holding her arms out._

"_Do you want to clarify that?" she asked._

_Without waiting any longer, Tuxedo Mask launched himself into the air, cane brought out in an upward sweep. It did not connect, however, as Galaxia leaped back out of the way. She brought the bracelets on her wrists together and they flashed, emitting two balls of golden light that surged through the air towards him. They ripped straight through his chest, knocking him to the floor as an orange flower sprouted from his forehead, a golden diamond issuing from it and floating to be caught by her hand as she watching him struggling to breathe._

"_The Star Seed in charge of the Earth! Now this planet is in my hands!" she gloated, observing the powerful shine from the Star Seed that Mamoru now knew belonged to him. Unlike the others, the glow of the Star Seed did not fade and go dim, continuing to shine in Galaxia's palm._

"_I don't think so!" he said, struggling to get the words out as his breathing became more and more ragged._

"_What?!"_

"_On this planet, there are agents of Love and Justice, Sailor Soldiers who keep the peace.." Mamoru said, as images of Sailor Moon together with the Inner & Outer Senshi flashed through his mind. He smiled sadly. Perhaps this was the last time he would ever be able to see them again. With effort, he raised his head, smiling grimly at Galaxia, who glared back at him._

"_They will definitely strike out your evil ambition." He added, feeling his grip on reality begin to fade as golden shimmers flowed from his body._

"_Usa-ko..."_

"Let's see your Star Seed, Mamoru Chiba!" Charoite's voice yanked Mamoru out of his little flashback as the stones on her bracers gave off two flashes of violet light which flew through the air towards him.

'_Good god'_ Charoite thought, shuddering, disgusted with herself. _'I never thought the day would come when I sounded like Aluminium Siren...'_

*****

"Hey Odango, remember the last time we came here?" Seiya asked, relaxing on the bench as he turned his head to look at Usagi, who was sat beside him. Ichi-no-hachi Park was fairly quiet that day, mostly only populated by mothers and their young children. This was, in fact, what had set Seiya off, a smirk on the ebony-haired Light's face as he remembered the first time he saw Usagi anywhere near a small child.

"_But anyway, he's so late! I'll go home in a minute!" Usagi complained, giving the park one last look over for any sign of her 'date'. Several children no older than five ran past, the last one tripping and falling over. When the child began to cry, Usagi smiled, leaning down at helping him sit up._

"_Don't cry! You're a strong boy! If you keep crying, you can't have fun with your friends, right?" she said gently. The boy sniffled and nodded, seeming to cheer up as Usagi patted him on the head._

"_Yeah!" the boy said, grinning._

"_Oh! Good boy!" Usagi cooed, trying not to look embarrassed as the boy shouted "High power! Hyper! Jet!" and ran off back to his friends, who giggled and then continued to play._

"_Go on!" the blonde called after him, smiling as the little group of kids ran off further into the park and disappeared. The smile faded into a look of annoyance as she saw Seiya walk towards her._

"_Sorry! Were you waiting?"_

"_Of course I was!" Usagi shouted back. "What made you—" before she could finish her rant, Usagi slipped on a misplaced can and fell over, hitting her knee on the concrete and bursting into tears as she clutched it and wailed. "Itaaaaiiii!"_

"_If you're crying, you can't have fun!" Seiya reminded her, grinning. Usagi paused, looking up at him._

"_You were watching?"_

_Seiya didn't answer, holding his hand out to her. "Need a hand?"_

"_I'm okay." Usagi replied, shaking her head as she got to her feet._

"_Oh! Good girl!" Seiya teased, echoing her previous words as he tried not to laugh. Usagi glared up at him. "Hey!" He seemed to sober up, taking on a more serious look behind his sunglasses._

"_Aren't you going to do it?"_

"_What?" Usagi asked, clearly nonplussed._

"_High power! Hyper!" Seiya began, mimicking the child she had helped earlier._

"_SHUT UP!" Usagi said quickly, cutting him off before he could finish the sentence with an exasperated glare._

"My name is Usagi. U-sa-gi. It's not that hard, Seiya." she replied, pouting and folding her arms as the Light merely laughed at her annoyed expression. Mostly she just remembered the pain from that particular park trip. "And why didn't you tell me it was meant to be a date?"

"You're a girl, Usagi." Seiya replied. _'Well.. more often than me anyway.'_ "You're supposed to know these things already."

"I've still got it though.." Usagi said, looking suddenly thoughtful as she trailed off.

"Eh? Got what?"

Usagi ruffled around in her purse, producing the pink key-chain bear Seiya had won.

"The bear." She said, handing it to him. "You know, the one you won in that arcade game when we went to the zoo."

"_Wow! That bear looks cute!" Usagi exclaimed, eyeing up the pink bear as it hung on a rack inside the arcade crane game. Seiya followed her gaze and grinned to himself, nudging her out of the way as he took the controls of the machine, carefully grabbing the bear with the crane arm and inching it off the end of the rack._

"_Got it!" he exclaimed, punching the air in victory while Usagi clapped. Leaning over, he picked the bear up out of the tray at the bottom of the machine where the prizes were deposited, holding it up._

"_Tada!"_

"_Thank you!" Usagi said cheerily, holding her hand out. Seiya blinked._

"_For what?"_

"_For that bear!"_

_Usagi watched as Seiya pinned the bear to his T-shirt, still grinning to himself about beating the arcade game as he walked off._

"_You should get your own." he called back._

"_I knew it.." Usagi muttered, sighing._

Seiya laughed as he remembered Usagi's expression when he had walked off with the bear she thought he'd got for her, Usagi letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I let you keep it though, in the end." he said, trying to keep a lid on his amusement.

"Yeah.."

"_See! Nobody understands how I feel! Damn!" Iron Mouse ranted, staring heatedly at the Starlights and Eternal Sailor Moon, who had just finished her usual introduction speech. She was about to try and take their Star Seeds when Sailor Moon called out "Wait!", dropping to her knees as she recognised the pink bear. It had been knocked to the floor as Seiya avoided Iron Mouse's earlier attempt to steal his Star Seed._

"_This is Seiya's!" she said, the worry in her voice making Fighter turn around and look at her._

"_What happened to Seiya?" she asked, a desperate, pleading tone taking over as she remained kneeled, clutching the little pink bear to her heart. "Oh, no! Was he turned into a Phage?!" she added, coming to her own conclusion when no-one answered her, tears coming to her eyes. "Tell me! Where's Seiya?!"_

"_He's safe." Fighter said, looking away again._

"_Really?" Sailor Moon asked._

"_Yes. I guarantee it." Fighter said, wondering how it was possible Sailor Moon knew about the bear. She couldn't be Usagi... could she?_

_Iron Mouse erupted into peals of laughter as she got back to her feet._

"_You don't know anything!" she gloated. "I know it! Do you want to know Seiya-kun's... real... identity?" she asked, a taunting tone to her voice._

"_Star Serious Laser!"_

After all that, Seiya let Usagi keep the bear because he felt guilty for making her worry about him. Usagi closed her eyes, hoping she had the strength to see through telling him what she wanted to say so badly. Just after the battle, she and Pluto had had a discussion that was having serious implications right now.

_Standing before the Time Door, Pluto held out a shimmering pink Star Seed to Sailor Moon, who could sense that it belonged without a doubt to Chibi-Usa._

"_Small Lady has a true Star Seed." Pluto observed. "It means she will definitely be born in the future. Crystal Tokyo will become reality no matter what you choose, Princess."_

"_Really?" Sailor Moon asked, handing it back to Pluto, who used her talisman to return it, and her daughter, to its correct place in time._

"_Really."_

"Ne.. Seiya.. there's something I've been meaning to tell you.." Usagi said slowly, her hands bunching the material of her dress together as her heart began to pound.

"What is it?" Seiya asked, looking over at her concernedly as he noticed her change from relaxed to suddenly nervous.

"It's about you, Seiya.. I think.. I think I.."

Usagi's confession was cut short when her communicator beeped. Minako's face appeared on the screen, looking anxious.

"Usagi-chan! Mamoru is in mortal danger!" she said, driving Usagi's thoughts of _'great timing, Minako'_ clear out of her head as worry for her Mamo-chan took over. "Rei called me. Her fire told her Mamoru's in trouble! _Right now!"_ Minako pressed, her words jolting Usagi into action.

"Minako-chan, get the others! We're at Ichi-no-Hachi Park."

"Hai!"

*****

Mamoru fell to the floor, a familiar pain washing over him as Charoite held his Star Seed in her hand, smiling. So far, her plan was working.

"Kirei..."

She was disturbed from her thoughts, however, as five Inner Senshi and three Starlights faded into view behind her. Sailor Moon gave a cry of grief as she ran forward, de-transforming and cradling Mamoru's disappearing form in her arms with a sob.

"Shimatta!" Charoite exclaimed, jumping out of the way as Fighter launched a 'Star Serious Laser!' at her.

"Charoite Phase Out!" she called, holding up her bracers and fading away in a swirl of violet light.

"Coward!" Healer screamed after her angrily, looking from Usagi back to Charoite, who was now almost completely gone. Charoite's face hardened as she glared back at the silver haired Starlight.

"Hmph. Live today, fight tomorrow!" she called back before completely fading from view.

"Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked uncertainly, blinking through her tears as she felt the man in her arms get lighter and lighter as he faded into gold shimmers at a steadily faster pace.

"Usa-ko."

Fighter looked on from an uncomfortable distance as the two of them embraced, Mamoru almost completely gone now.

"I'll get it back, Mamo-chan." Usagi said, her voice quiet but shaking with anger as she thought of Charoite. "I'll get it back and set things right."

Smiling a little, Mamoru kissed her forehead, knowing he was nearing the end. "I know you will." He said, turning his head and looking over to Fighter. "Keep her safe for me." were his last words before he completely disappeared, leaving one very guilty feeling Fighter. Before now, she had only thought of coming back to the planet to win Usagi's heart.. but after seeing that, how could she come between the two of them? It was, after all, their _destiny_. And there was that word again..

*****

Appearing back in her apartment, Charoite headed into her bedroom and placed a fair sized chunk of Charoite stone with small runes on her bed sitting beside it, placing her hand on it to open a communication line.

"I got it." she said, holding the Golden Star Seed up. "So what am I meant to do with it?"

"Well done! If you channel the power, you should be able to... persuade the humans to enter a portal to Upsilon with it." A projection of Princess Andromeda replied from the other side of the connection. "I'd recommend only using the people from the city you are in now as a trial run."

Charoite nodded. "But Princess... how _did_ you know where the Golden Star Seed was in the first place?"

The Princess grinned, turning away slightly out of Charoite's view. "I'm a Seer, Charoite, it's what I do. Call me when you've made further progress." she said, the projection cutting out as the princess terminated the communication line once more.

"Hai" Charoite muttered, staring thoughtfully at the stone on her bed.


	5. 4: Is Seiya Still A Threat?

_**Chapter Four: Starlit Love Triangles Have Complications. Is Seiya Still A Threat?**_

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As usual: Concept & characters of Sailor Moon don't belong to me. Only the plot & Sailor Charoite do.**

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Maeyela stretched and yawned as she sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes a few times as she walked over to pull back her curtains, light spilling through the open window. The dream she had just woke up from was strange. She was on the moon fighting a woman in a purple dress who seemed to be destroying the whole place... and, who she remembered, had wierd ears. She could remember screams and the solar senshi were fighting and dying around her, although she noticed that there was no Eternal Sailor Moon to be found. Not much made sense to her about it anyway, so she removed it from her mind, trying instead to focus on the task she still had to do.

The day before had been easy enough, the short fight after she had successfully taken the Golden Star Seed from her target had left her relatively uninjured, even if her quick escape had harmed her pride a little. She didn't necessarily like fighting, but running away made her look like a coward, and a coward she definitely was _not_.

Pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, she leant back in her chair and clicked "Print", spinning the chair around and grabbing the resulting print-out and heading to her kitchen. The apartment itself was fairly open plan, something she was thankful for as it reminded her of her quarters back at home.

"I hope this works." she said to herself, the Golden Star Seed appearing in her outstretched hand as she held it over the map. It gave out a shimmering light, and five points began to shine from the paper, making a pentagram over Tokyo. "The five Crystal Points... perfect." she muttered, placing a cross over each on the map and shuddering as she willed the Golden Star Seed back inside herself and watched as it faded. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Pushing the discomfort aside, she got to work ruling lines over the points, and then circled the place where they crossed in the centre of town. It was the site for the Crystal Palace in the future, and now the point where she would be best suited to set up her portal to Upsilon.

She looked up at the clock to see she only had fifteen minutes to get to college before she would be late. As much fun as it looked, running into class late with Usagi and the others wasn't really her cup of tea. Grabbing the messenger bag she carried her college necessities in she headed for the door. However, she didn't get very far before collapsing to her knees, panting as her body began to overflow with pain.

The part of the stolen Star Seed that retained the personality of it's true owner was starting to wake up, only a day after it had been separated from it's host body. It didn't help that her own Star Seed was now in constant competition with the stolen one as far as her energy was concerned. Unlike Galaxia, she had nowhere to store Star Seeds than herself, which also meant that she would, given enough time, also be in competition for control of her own body. Being effectively dead did not seem to hinder Mamoru Chiba's willpower in the slightest, and it was causing her problems. Growling slightly, she forced the pain to the back of her mind and got up, heading out of the door.

*****

Usagi had decided to leave out her normal hairstyle that day. It may have been something to do with the fact she was running twenty minutes late, or it might have been the fact that she couldn't wait to see Seiya's face when he couldn't call her 'odango' because she wasn't actually an odango-atama today, for the first time in years outside of her pyjamas. But she did know one thing. _Having really long hair was sometimes a complete and utter pain in the ass. _

She forced herself not to look at Mamoru's door as she walked past, knowing it would only make her feel bad for what she wanted to.. no.. what she _was_ going to do today. And what better place than at the cinema?

Ever since the Starlights came back and Seiya told her he wasn't planning on leaving, she had been desperately trying to look for reasons not to change her mind from what she had said two years ago. But the harder she tried to make herself love Mamoru and forget him, the harder she found it to be content with staying just 'friends forever', when she knew she wanted to be more than that. There had only been two things holding her back before. Her loyalty to Mamoru, and her future daughter. But now, there was nothing in her way. Mamoru was conveniently dead and Chibi-Usa would be born anyway. The only thing that was stopping her being with Seiya was her lack of courage to actually tell him how she really felt. While lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice that she had long ago passed Mamoru's door, and was in fact about to step into the road front of a speeding taxi. Someone else _did_ notice, however.

Maeyela didn't know what it was that made her take that way to college. It was longer than her usual route, and went all the way around a few blocks of apartments before actually getting back on track. It just felt like she needed to take this path today, that someone would need her along the way, which she usually would have said was ridiculous as she was not a strong believer in the workings of fate. Then again, she was all over the place in her mind. Paranoia was slowly creeping up on her along with the pain as she began to see Anima-mates everywhere. Everyone was out to get her, every reflection held a glint of gold and jewelled bracelets. Around every corner was a giggling figure waiting to rip out her Star Seed. If it was possible, she had never regretted anything more than she did taking that Golden Star Seed right now. She blinked as she saw someone who looked like Usagi stepping out into the road, a clearly vacant look on her face. Only it couldn't have been Usagi, because the girl didn't have the same distinctive hairstyle the blonde was known for. As she got closer, however, she recognised the girl for who she was. No-one but Usagi could have those permanently cheerful, shiny sky blue eyes. Eyes that mostly annoyed her. Right now, they possessed a far-away look as the blonde continued to walk away from her and into the path of a taxi that was going down the road in a hurry. The driver wouldn't have enough time to stop if she took one more step..

"Tsukino-san!" calling her name, Maeyela ran forwards and took hold of the blonde's shoulders, turning her and pulling her backwards and out of reach of the taxi moments before it was too late. She had too much backward momentum, she realised, as the pair of them fell over backwards, Maeyela hitting the floor first with Usagi on top of her. For some reason, she had wanted to throw a rose to stop the taxi, but why would she do that?! Usagi shook off her thoughts to find herself unintentionally straddling the girl who had quite possibly saved her life.

"Ah, err.. sorry." Usagi said, quickly getting up and standing a few steps away.

"It's alright." Maeyela muttered, eyes narrowing slightly. She had felt the flash of a Star Seed from the other girl during that short period of contact, and the Golden Star Seed was pulsing more than ever, maybe trying to warn the girl somehow? Why would it do that? Could this girl be one of the Solar Senshi? She hadn't paid that much attention to it yesterday, but Usagi's usual hairstyle looked strangely familiar.

Checking her watch, she turned and started to walk towards college, leaving Usagi behind until the blonde sped up and fell into step beside her.

"So, have your first few days here been alright? I hear it's your first time in Tokyo." she said cheerily, hoping to get a conversation started.

"They've been.. uneventful." Maeyela replied flatly, her head pounding now with each fluctuation of the Star Seed hidden inside her.

"Well, I hope we can be friends. You seem a bit lonely, going around by yourself all the time." Usagi gave back, frowning a little. "I don't like to see people on their own and lonely."

Smiling, Maeyela nodded. "Alright, I'll be friends with you, Usagi... I'm not making any promises about your companions, though. That Seiya guy gets on my nerves already."

Usagi just laughed and carried on walking.

*****

Makoto sighed, brushing the stray strands of chocolate hair out of her face where they had escaped her ponytail. She hadn't spoken to Ami outside of college at all since the day Taiki arrived, the bluenette seemingly forgetting to call her because she was spending all her time with him instead. Today, however, Ami had insisted they have a homework group at the temple since having to fight Charoite had put them a little 'behind' in their studies. She walked into the usual room to find Rei sat writing on her own, looking more forlorn than herself if possible.

"Hey.. where are the others?" Makoto asked, looking around as if she expected them to jump out of hiding places or something. Rei sighed, not looking up.

"Usagi and Seiya went to the cinema, Minako isn't returning my calls, and Ami just hasn't turned up." she said, staring at the space at the table beside her where Minako usually sat.  
"Have you tried their communicators?" Makoto asked, sitting down opposite Rei and leaning on the table.  
"No." Rei said, the glumness seeming to fall straight off as she tried to contact Minako's communicator. Makoto watched with interest as she fiddled with her own, trying to reach Ami.  
"Who is it?" A voice that definitely wasn't Minako's rang out from the other side of the line.  
"Minako-chan?" Rei asked uncertainly, exchanging a glance with Makoto.  
"It's Yaten. Mina's taking a shower right now." the voice replied, Rei's mind at once going into overdrive. _'Mina's in the shower? Since when did Yaten start calling Minako-chan 'Mina', exactly? And what where they doing that meant she'd have to take a--' _Rei's face took on an odd expression, her cheeks going slightly red as she groaned inwardly, ashamed of her own thoughts._ 'By the gods Rei Hino, get your mind out of the gutter!'  
_"Right... thanks." she managed to stutter, shutting off the line before she could embarrass herself further.

Meanwhile, a similar sort of thing was happening to Makoto. She was answered by Ami, but only briefly, the bluenette explaining she would have to talk later, as she and Taiki were in the middle of a 'fascinating' conversation about something scientific or another. When she tried to remind her about the study group, she found that the other girl had already hung up.

"Damnit!" Makoto muttered, glaring at the blank screen of the communicator watch around her wrist.  
"You too huh?" Rei asked gently, staring out of the window as she watched the trees blow in the wind.  
"I... yeah." Makoto mumbled, turning red as she looked down at the surface of the table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Suddenly a sound of fists hitting a wooden surface sounded throughout the temple and Rei got to her feet, Makoto looking up in surprise at her companion.  
"Rei-chan?"  
"I'm sick of this!" Rei exclaimed, pulling herself to her feet and heading towards the door, her whole figure emanating an anger that surprised even Makoto.  
"Waiting around for her to notice me. I'm not going to let that Yaten win Minako's heart! The little silver-haired baka will only break it when he leaves again." she ranted, punching the wall in frustration before turning to Makoto. "Well? Are you with me?" she asked, sure Makoto of all people would understand how she was feeling. The hurt from waiting so long, just incase, and now the disappointment when she realised it was all for nothing because the Starlights had decided to come back. How was she supposed to know this would happen? And where did 'we'll be friends forever' go? Clearly Minako and Yaten were closer than friends. And where was she?! The last to know as usual. Well no more. She had well and truly had enough.

"Yeah." Makoto said, glaring at the table surface as the image of Ami, alone in the rain because the Starlights had left again for their Princess on some mission or another filled her mind. A determined grin crossed her face as she looked up at the distressed Miko once more.  
"I'm with you, Rei-chan."

*****

"Are you sure Rei-chan said she didn't want to come with us?" Usagi asked, looking troubled as she barely watched the film she was supposed to be seeing.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. The others are having that study group I saved you from, after all. Aren't I nice?"

"Riiight.."

Worrying about her friends and the fact that Seiya had his arm around her was turning out to be a rather distracting combination. He insisted it was just to make sure she was safe to keep his promise to Mamoru, but she secretly guessed, or rather, hoped, that wasn't all there was to it. She was determined to tell him today, as what had happened to Mamoru, rather than plunging her into depression, had strengthened her resolve to catch her chance with both hands before it was taken away from her. Seiya, on the other hand, seemed to be quieter since that day.

'_Yosh!'_ she thought, smiling confidently into the semi-darkness of the cinema as she looked up at Seiya, who was watching the movie, or at least pretending to. _'I'm going for it!'_

"Err.. Seiya?" she asked, begging her heartbeat to calm down. At the rate it had started to pound, she was almost certain everyone else could hear it too.

"What's up, Odango?" Seiya asked, turning to look down at her. As his midnight blue eyes met hers, Usagi gulped, feeling herself lose more of her nerve the longer she watched the light from the cinema screen play off those pool-like blue depths.

'_What was I thinking? I can't do this!' _Usagi thought regretfully as she felt words starting to fail her. _'No! I said I was going for it!'_ her less-willing-to-give up side reminded, putting in it's two cents as she stuttered a little. Defeating Galaxia had been almost a walk in the park compared to this.

"Well.. Minako-chan.. interrupted me earlier.. though I'm not saying it's bad that she did because otherwise we wouldn't have known.. no. Hang on.. I mean.. I wanted to say something back in the park." she said, all on one breath.

Seiya had to take a minute or two to work through the garbled sentence before he could make any sense of it, smiling although his head began to pound as much as Usagi's heart at all the implications of what she could be trying to say. What he hoped she was saying. Her next words might be what he had been waiting for since he realised he loved her.. but then again, she could just want to apologise, to tell him to go home because she wasn't going to leave her Mamo-chan, that it was their _destiny_ to be together, and that she couldn't give that up. Ever since the day Mamoru's Star Seed had been stolen, he had been feeling increasingly guilty about his main reason to come back to Earth. Should he really be trying to win her over when she had just lost so much in that one defeat? It was still early days in this new fight against Charoite as well.

Thinking about Charoite also reminded him of the new girl in Usagi's class - Maeyela Seiko. Although it had been pretty awkward between them for the past week, when they came to college this morning they had been talking and laughing like best friends. Although it seemed suspicious, surely he was just being overprotective? He would have to ask Yaten whether he felt anything strange from the girl, whether he thought she could be a senshi. There had definitely been _something_ about her. His attention snapped back to Usagi as she spoke again.

"Seiya.. I should have told you this years ago. I.. I'm so sorry Seiya, I was scared.. I thought it would destroy someone I hold very dear to my heart.." Usagi said, closing her eyes as she thought of Chibi-Usa's smiling face. Pluto had said it was alright, hadn't she? That Chibi-Usa would still be born no matter who she chose.

Inwardly, Seiya sighed. It looked like his fears were coming true. '_Someone very dear to her heart.. that'll be her Mamo-chan then..'_ he thought bitterly. _'Odango, why couldn't I have met you first?'_

"But it's okay now. I don't have to worry anymore.. so I wanted to tell you.." Again, Usagi stopped, her mind roaring at her. _'What are you doing?! Don't stop now! You're so close!'_ The thought stuck its proverbial heel in and Usagi cleared her throat, her eyes closing with a determined look on her face. '_This is it, Usagi.'_ she told herself. '_It's now or never.'_

"Seiya, I wanted to tell you that I--"

A loud rending sound filled the air, interrupting her mid-sentence. The ground began to shake as the people around them started to get up and head out of the theatre in silence, leaving the film as it was. _'Goddamnit!' _Usagi fumed, repressing the urge to scream at something and tear her hair out. _'Interrupted AGAIN!'_

She was jolted from her thoughts when Seiya tugged her arm, pulling her to her feet.

"Come on, we need to go check that out." he said, chuckling when she hung her head, muttering. "Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll get to tell me one day, Odango. Now let's go. Eternal Sailor Moon is needed." he said, setting off at a run she was barely able to keep up with as the two of them tore off through the crowd which were walking like zombies, cinema staff and all.

Usagi grinned. "Only if Sailor Star Fighter will go with her." she called back over the noise of the crowd, not seeing Seiya's smile as he turned away from her. That statement itself was enough to make his day.

*****

Charoite re-settled herself calmly on the side of the rooftop, looking down into the crowds before her. Ironically enough the site for the portal she had just created was in the middle of quite a large square enclosed by high buildings. The perfect place for a battle should the Solar Senshi actually discover what she was doing before it was too late to stop her.

A gold rimmed portal glowed in the centre of the expanse of courtyard before it, the Golden Star Seed hovering in Charoite's left hand also glowing in response. A small smirk crossed her face as the Gemstone Senshi wondered how much the owner of said Star Seed agreed with what she was doing - not that he had much of a choice.

The sound of high heels clicking caught her attention, and within seconds Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter arrived on the scene, taking it in for a minute or so before snapping back to reality and running from one civilian to the next, trying to stop them entering the portal and failing.

It didn't matter to Charoite whether more of the earth-dwellers entered her portal or not, she had more than enough potential hostages now trapped in a pocket dimension created by the Golden Star Seed. Not to mention the Star Seed in itself was still quite the substantial bargaining chip.

Back on the ground, Sailor Mars growled, giving up trying to stop the people walking past her as if she didn't exist - they couldn't hear her. She knew Charoite was behind this somehow, but she couldn't see the guilty party anywhere around.

"Jupiter, let's just take down that portal." she shouted across to the other senshi, vaguely wondering where the others were. Hearing an affirmative reply, she allowed a small grin to cross her face. Charoite's plans were not going to work today.

"_Mars! Flame.. Sniper!"_

Her fiery attack combined with Jupiter's in mid air and hit the portal dead centre, the backlash rocking the ground. When the smoke cleared, however, the portal was left relatively unharmed. Mars frowned as she heard Jupiter swear.

Charoite sighed, rolling her eyes. So far none of the other senshi had turned up, and these two were more than vulnerable. Channelling her power through the Star Seed once more, she issued a quick order to some of the civilians, knowing that the senshi would rather die than harm innocent people. "Get them."

Back on the ground, Jupiter and Mars were forced to back up against each other as some of the civilians formed a circle around them, closing in.

"What do you suggest we do?" Jupiter asked hesitantly. "We can't hurt them."

Mars, however, already had an attack charged. "Our lower level attacks shouldn't do as much damage. Maybe we should just give them a warning shot - the cinema isn't too far from here and Usagi and Seiya are probably on their way right now."

"Right." Jupiter nodded. It had been a few years now since she had used one of her less powerful techniques, but what the heck. _"Supreme Thunder!"_

Seconds after, Mar's cry of _"Fire Soul!"_ joined hers and the fire and electrical energy summoned by their attacks hit against the ever tightening ring of civilians, driving them backwards and knocking a few of the weaker ones off their feet. But soon they were up again and it was as if the attacks did nothing as the space they had gained was soon reclaimed by the crowd. Charoite smirked as another set of oaths hit the air, Mars and Jupiter had hands pinning them down and covering their mouths to stop them shouting any incantations and calling forth more magical attacks. Time to go and gloat for a while.

Charoite jumped off the roof and landed neatly on her feet before walking over to the spot where the two solar senshi were being held down. "Mars, Jupiter. I don't think I need to introduce myself again." she said calmly. Obviously not as Mars was busy rolling her eyes at her already while she and green and pink clad senshi beside her continued to struggle. "I suggest you sit tight or I'll order them to choke you. By the time today's work is over I'll have at least half of the population of Tokyo, along with this Star Seed, as bargaining chips to blackmail your precious leader with."

*****

Across town in a large manor, Setsuna Meioh felt her cup of coffee slip from her fingers. But she wasn't paying attention as it shattered on the floor. Wave after wave of power was bristling through her sending alarm bells whirring in her mind - the future was changing, and drastically, and the thing that would set it off would start today.

Michiru came running downstairs from her painting studio in the attic to find Setsuna on her knees holding her head and Haruka sat on the sofa next to her, having just got back from a race fifteen minutes ago and spotting Setsuna on her way up to see Michiru.

"The sea is whipping up a storm.." she commented, worry crossing her face. "Setsuna, what's happening?"

"Future.. The future is changing." Setsuna replied faintly. "Mamoru-san is in danger. He will disappear today if we don't act now." Her voice became stronger as she stood back up, her eyes moving from Haruka to Michiru and back.

"Disappear? What do you mean 'Disappear'? His Star Seed was already taken by Charoite, wasn't it?" Haruka questioned, still slightly angry at the thought of the Andromeda Senshi's actions after hearing what had happened.

"Right now the future is splitting in two." Setsuna explained. "In one course, Usagi-tachi will defeat Charoite with no casualties in the battle that is about to begin."

"And in the other?" Michiru prompted.

"Usagi won't be able to stop Charoite and she will at some point shatter the Golden Star Seed, with it obliterating Mamoru Chiba." Haruka moved to speak again but Setsuna put her hand up, stopping her in her tracks. "It's true we could repair the Star Seed, but even if we do there is no guarantee Mamoru-san's soul can be reclaimed also. The Star Seed might simply be born to another form. It's not even forced to be a human one, it could be reborn into an alley cat for all we know."

"Shit.. If that happens it will break Koneko-chan's heart.." Haruka muttered.

"It's worse than that." Setsuna said, her calm voice slightly strained. "If the Star Seed shatters, Mamoru will cease to exist and Endymion will go with him - and by cease to exist, I mean throughout the past as well. Even if the Silver Millennium doesn't change in the slightest, think of all the times there won't be a Tuxedo Mask to help Sailor Moon out of trouble."

"But that could create a time paradox with deadly results! Let's go, quickly." Michiru said, heading straight out the garage door towards Haruka's convertible, the other two hot on her heels.

*****

Usagi panted as she ran up a stairwell, Seiya several steps ahead of her and having the audacity to laugh at her as she struggled to keep up. "Wait for me! I'm not.. that.. fit.."

"You're too slow!" Seiya teased as he got to the top, looking out over the roof. As soon as he saw the scene below, with the portal and hundreds of zombified people the smile fell straight off his face. "This is going to be tough.."

"What?" Usagi followed his gaze and visibly blanched when she saw what was going on. Two figures clad in red and green caught her attention more, however. "She's got Rei and Mako-chan!"

"Then let's go and help them, Odango." Seiya replied. Usagi nodded, a firm hold already on her compact.

"_Fighter Star Power, Make-Up!"_

"_Moon Eternal, Make-Up!_

Charoite jumped quickly to one side to dodge a "Star Serious Laser" and realised that Star Fighter was around only seconds before she had to duck out of the way of a fist as well. It was a shame she couldn't break the disguise magic on this annoying woman, or she'd hunt her down and beat the crap out of her civilian form to stop her getting in the way.

"_Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"_ The bright light caused by Usagi's attack flowed over the people holding down Mars and Jupiter, who were at once released as the civilians regained control of themselves. Stepping backwards, Charoite held up the Star Seed in her hand, shaking her head. "Not today, Sailor Moon." she said as the Star Seed lit up like a Christmas tree and forced the released people back under her control. Bringing her leg around in a kick that caught Fighter in the chest and knocked her to the ground, she dusted herself off. "Well well. It's not like you to start fighting without giving your precious little speech. Something wrong, Sailor Moon?" without waiting for a reply she turned to the crowd. "Your previous orders still stand. Get them!"

The crowd began to turn on the senshi once more as Charoite walked off. Suddenly her footsteps slowed and stopped, and she turned around with a suspicious look on her face as she stared at Sailor Moon, who had now been restrained along with the others by the crowd. "That hairstyle.. I know you." she muttered. Last time they fought, Sailor Moon had relinquished her transformation early as she was "phasing out" to hold the disappearing body of Mamoru, and she got a clear view of her real identity. The girl who also had odango's. "Sailor Moon.. Iie.. Tsukino Usagi.." Judging by the look of shock on the other senshi's faces, she had guessed right. Now to start blackmailing. "See this?" Charoite said, a cold grin sliding across her face as she waved the Golden Star Seed at Eternal Sailor Moon's face.  
"Damn thing's more trouble than it's worth. If you try to stop me, I'll shatter it! You'll _never_ get your Mamo-chan back."

"I won't allow that!" To everyone's surprise it was Fighter who had spoken, wrenching the hand from her mouth none too gently in her anger. "Usagi and Mamoru Chiba.. they were meant to be together, and she was always true to him even when he never wrote back. Even when I..." Usagi's eyes filled with tears as she was reminded of the pain she had put Seiya through during those times as the Starlight trailed off, looking guilty. The sentence remained unspoken even though the rest of the solar senshi knew the end of it. _'Even when I tried to take her myself.'_ "You can't seperate them! I should know..."

Tears were slipping down Sailor Moon's face but Charoite remained stone cold, unmoved.

"Touching, I'm sure. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with my conversation."

"Oh no you don't!" A voice called out, Charoite having to resist the urge to punch someone (probably Fighter) in the face as she was interrupted again.

This time it was Sailor Star Healer who had interrupted. Venus, Mercury and Maker were with her as they ran closer to the scene, wasting no time with Charoite as they tried to free the other senshi. Charoite simply glared at them, retreating to her rooftop again. She had enough civilians to hold to ransom now even if she returned the Golden Star Seed to Eternal Sailor Moon. Smiling slightly, she sighed, hoping the other senshi wouldn't get in her way again.

"Sailor Moon, I've just about done for today." she called out, watching as the now freed senshi turned to look up at her with varying expressions of anger. "If you will agree to negotiate with me, I will return the Golden Star Seed free from harm."

"How do we know you aren't lying? Give those people back first!" Mars scoffed, shaking her head airily.

"I have no business with underlings." Charoite snapped back at her, eyes flashing. "I'm here to discuss things with your leader, not you, so keep your mouth shut unless you want me to shut it for you, Mars."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Venus put in angrily as Charoite came back towards them; her attention focused on Sailor Moon who was currently being shielded by Fighter first and foremost, the others dotted around closely.

Charoite's glare increased and she stretched out her right hand, the bracer at her wrist glowing purple. A shot of energy was released at Venus's chest with a sound like a gunshot, sending her flying backwards until she smashed through a department store window, screaming in pain.

"I said shut up." she added carelessly, another shot of energy aimed at Mercury as she resumed her search for a weakness a little early, sending the blue-uniformed senshi through the broken glass after her blonde team-member. Mars, twitching in anger, was about to launch an attack when Sailor Moon motioned for her to wait, her expression changing at intervals between anger and worry as she tried to make a decision on her own for once.

"No answer?" Charoite asked condescendingly. "I won't wait for you to make up your mind, Tsukino-san. Better luck next time." For the other senshi who were watching, time seemed to slow down as Charoite raised her hand and threw the Golden Star Seed at the concrete floor, hard.


End file.
